


Detroit Become Human: A Fanfiction

by IrrationallyLogical



Series: Detroit Become Human Original Fanfictions (during game and post game and aus) [1]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: A thus ends my rant in tags, Action, Adventure, Androids, Biocomponents (Detroit: Become Human), Civil War, CyberLife, Detroit, Fanfiction, Gavin reed isn't a dick in this one forever, Jericho - Freeform, Mystery, Technology, also, detroit become human - Freeform, i've read too many reed redemption arcs to let it all go to hell now., just sounds bad, just the usual, no north hate, one character death but it isn't forever, ship who you will but in this house we go cannon for the most part which means norkus, though I hate the ship name, we chill with her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2020-09-24 17:40:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 26,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20362471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrrationallyLogical/pseuds/IrrationallyLogical
Summary: Amber is an android. A rk800 model. Her and the other rk800 model, Connor, have been sent by Cyberlife to the Detroit Police Department to help with investigations into deviant androids.But something else is brewing in Detroit and something is different with Amber and Connor, something they aren't programmed for.





	1. Mission: Save the Girl

**Author's Note:**

> Hello,  
If you've taken the time to read this I am grateful. I've enjoyed writing this and I hope some will enjoy reading it. I've also posted this on wattpad under the name SerenityWorld. My Tumblr is and-we-are-all-dead.
> 
> I hope you like what you read, and if you do leave a comment or a kudos. 
> 
> Have a good day.

My eyes opened and i found myself in an elevator. I had just finished making a report to cyberlife 

Conner was standing right beside me, playing with a coin.

I wasn't sure why cyberlife had installed that in his programming.

The doors opened and they walked through into the hallway.

Scanning...

There was an aquarium to their left, some pictures on their right, and some broken glass and a fish on the floor.

I went for the pictures while Connor grabbed the fish and put it back in the aquarium. I rolled my eyes and analyzed the pictures: father, mother, and daughter.

I grabbed Connors hand and shared the information with him.

Just as the transfer finished, a hysterical woman that matched the mother in the pictures was being dragged out by two swat members.

She grabbed onto me and started screaming.

"You have to save her! Please, please..." and she stopped cold as soon as my LED caught her eyes. She looked over at Connor and saw the same.

"No..no... how can you send one of those things... you can't do that..." And she was dragged out.

Me and Connor walked towards Captain Allen, who was looking at the computer.

I let Connor talk to Allen and I started to preconstruct the scene. I gathered that the deviant steal the father's gun and than shot the father. I frowned and made my way over to the child's room, how could she not have heard the shots?

When I entered the room I saw an electronic device on the desk. I opened it up and saw a video with the child and the android. The child referred to it as Daniel.

Information: irrelevant

I looked at the ground and saw a pair of headphones. That explains why the child didn't hear the shots.

"Find anything Amber?" Connor asked.

"Nothing relevant. Deviant stole the father's gun, is referred to as Daniel. You?"

"Android was injured. There was a first responder shot, child was in proximity to that. Both are on the ledge now. The parents were getting a new more advanced android, could be the reason it deviated."

"Lets get them down then shall we?"

Connor nodded and we made our way to the balcony.

"Hey hey, what are you doing?" Allen said blocking our path.

"Saving the girl. Or would you rather she die?" I said staring at him.

"Why would I trust you to do that? You're just a plastic machine."

"Yes, a plastic machine that is assuredly more efficient than you. Do you want to put aside your pride, or do you want her to die?"

He stared and then moved out of our way.

I stepped out first slowly, Connor following me.

The android was holding onto the girl. Helicopters were circling the building and his stress levels were high, and rising.

As soon as he saw us he shoot and caught me in the shoulder. It didn't hit any biocomponents.

"Hello Daniel." I shouted over the helicopters.

"How do you..."

"We know a lot about you. I'm Connor and my associate is Amber." Connor jumped in as we edged closer. "We know you don't want to do this."

He paused momentarily before asking "Do you have any weapons?"

I had pocketed a gun from one of the swat members. I didn't know about Connor until he pulled out a gun and dropped it on the ground.

Daniel looked at me. "What about you?"

I thought for a moment before lying. "No. I don't."

"They were going to get rid of me." Daniel continued crying out. "I thought they loved me, i thought i was apart of their family... but I'm just a machine to them."

"That's not true Daniel!" The girl sobbed.

The noise of the helicopter momentarily drowned out any chance of saying anything else.

After it died down, Daniel shouted. "Arghhhh I can't think! Get them away from me."

How amusing, an android, thinking.

Nonetheless, Connor waved the helicopters away. Causing the deviants stress level to lower. Good, better chance for the mission's sucess.

"Listen, she didn't do anything wrong. You have to let her go. I promise you won't be hurt." Connor tried to reason. He was better at this whole negotiating thing. He is the negotiator after all.

We were only a few feet away from him.

"I've always taken orders. Now its my turn to survive." He said almost to himself. He was about to fall back when Connor dove forward and pushed the girl back onto the roof and started to fall. I sighed and dove forward as well, trying to grab connor.

I got his wrist but our momentum was too much and we continued to fall.

I felt some... satisfaction with saving the girl. I frowned. That wasn't apart of my programming.

Software Instability ^

And then my plastic head ran through the ground.


	2. Find Detective Anderson

Me and Connor stepped in front of Jimmy's Bar.

This was the fifth one.

We had been tasked with finding a man by the name of Hank Anderson, a lieutenant in the Detroit Police Department. After our little... experience with the child and the deviant, it became evident that deviants were becoming an issue. So we had been assigned to work with the police department with any more deviant cases.

We walked into the bar and looked around, using our scanning analysis programming to identify him. While Connor went to check the bathroom(because android or not, it would be awkward for the Lieutenant if I was the one to find him there) I checked the people at the bar counter. I found him, let Connor know, and made my way over to his side. 

"Lieutenant Anderson? I'm Amber and this is Connor, we're the androids sent by cyberlife." Connor had joined us. "We looked at the department but nobody was sure where you were. "

"They suggested you were have a drink nearby." Connor added. "We were lucky we found you at the fifth one." 

"What do you want?" He asked quietly looking at his drink.

"The case you'd been assigned earlier, the one involving a cyberlife android." I explained. "We've been ordered to assist you in the investigation."

"Well, I don't need any assistance." The lieutenant said. "Especially from you plastics assholes. So if you wouldn't mind, be a good little robot and get the fuck out of here."

I sighed a little. This was going to be difficult.

Conner tried again. "I understand that not all people are... comfortable in the presence of androids, but-" and was cut off.

"I am perfectly comfortable. Now go away before I crush you both like empty beer cans." He said taking a drink.

I had to resist correcting him on the fact that beer cans are made of aluminum and the plastic use to produce androids is extremely durable. Also that he is partially intoxicated and could not under most circumstances harm either of us.

Connor continued, aware I was not about to help our case. "Listen, it would be advisable to stop drinking and come with us. It would make life easier for all of us."

He responded with another drink.

I sighed, now past the urge to argue. "Bartender, same again if you will." The bartender nodded and started to make the drink. "How about this one's for the road?" 

"How's that for you Jim?" Hank said, slightly less agitated. "Wonders of technology."

And he finished his drink. After a few moments of pause, he finally spoke. "Did you say a homicide?"


	3. Carlos Ortiz

We drove up to the crime scene that was surrounded by a dozen or so bystanders. Anderson was listening to heavy metal music and was driving. I didn't even know people still had non-self driving cars anymore. Actually I did but I thought that they were only owned by rich humans for show. 

Anyway, when we parked Anderson told us "Wait here, this won't be long." And left the car.

Connor looked back at me. He was confused about what to do, and in all honesty neither did I. We were instructed to follow Anderson's orders but we were also instructed to solve deviant cases, not what would be accomplished by staying in the car. So I got out and made my way over to the house, Connor following right behind me.

"Androids not permitted beyond this point." A cop told us. Anderson looked back. "They're with me." 

We were let through. 

"What part of stay in the car do you two not understand?" Anderson asked as we neared.

"While we are instructed to follow your orders, or main objective is to help with cases, which is difficult to do while waiting in a vehicle." I told him. He looked a bit surprised at the way I responded.

"Well, you don't talk or touch anything, got it? And stay out of the way." He ordered.

"Understood." I responded.

"Evening Hank." A voice called out. Another detective. "Didn't think you were going to show."

"I wasn't going to. Until these plastic assholes found me." He responded, gesturing at myself and Connor. 

"So..." The man started. "Got yourself an android huh?"

"Oh very funny." Anderson grumbled. I wonder what that all meant. I made a note to look out for any other insinuations. "Just tell me what happened." 

And we walked to the house, the detective telling Anderson the details we already new. The landlord hadn't heard from the victim for a few months so he had come by to check on him. The department received the call at three after eight.

While they talked, me and Connor scanned the outside area. Nothing to help the investigation.

"Jesus that smell." The detective exclaimed. "Was even worse before the windows were opened. Victim's name was Carlos Ortiz. Has a record for aggravated assault and theft. According to neighbors, he was a bit of a loner. Stayed inside a lot of the time, neighbors barely saw him."

While they talked, we knelt by the small coffee table and analyzed. There was some spilled coffee but what was of more importance was the small quantity of Red Ice. 

Victim used drugs. 

"The state the bodies in, wasn't worth calling everybody down in the middle of the night. Could have waited till morning." Anderson commented.

Next we moved over to the knife. There were no fingerprints on it, possible android involvement. I put my finger on the blood of the blade and placed it on the sensors on my tongue to analyze. It was the victims and it was dried, after all the murder happened 19 days ago. There was some more of the same blood a few feet over.

"What about the android?"Anderson asked examining the stabbed body.

"We don't know." He responded. "Neighbors confirmed he owned one but it wasn't here when came." He started to look nauseous and said. "I-I gotta get some fresh air. Make yourself at home, i'll be outside if you need me." and left.

"Each letter is perfect." Anderson observed of the letters written above the body. 

I AM ALIVE

How irrational, for a machine to think it's alive.

"Way too neat for a human to have done it." Anderson said and called out. "Chris, was this written in the victim's blood?"

"I'd say so." The man, Chris, responded. "We're taking samples for analysis." 

Funny, it's almost like there aren't two androids with that exact feature at that crime scene.

I walked into the backyard and Connor took the kitchen.

There were footprints leading away from the back of the house. It was from 60 minutes ago, they were K52 boots issued to the DPD, in other words, not the androids.

Anderson had followed me. "Doors were locked from the inside. Killer must have come through this way."

"There aren't any footprints, other than a police officer's. The killer couldn't have come this way." I told him.

"This happen a while ago," Anderson said. "Tracks can fade."

"Yeah, but not with this type of soil. This would leave some kind of a trace." I explained. He looked at me. "Nobodies been here for a while."

I went back inside and met up with Connor. "Anything?" I asked. "There was evidence that the victim was beating the android and it took a knife from the kitchen to defend itself." Connor told me. "You?" "Deviant didn't leave from the back way." "That slightly narrows it down."

I found my way to the desk. Nothing looked like it had been touched for a while except for the pamphlet on the top of the piles for the Eden club. Unimportant.

Connor had made his way to the bathroom and called for me. I found where he was at and look at what he'd found.

There was a small statue in the shower, possibly a religious offering, along with writing on the wall.

RA9. 

Over and over again.

"What do you think?" He asked me, studying the statue.

"It seems like a possible cult of deviants. And I think there will be more deviant cases like this." I answered, looking at the writing, displeased at being unsure of the meaning behind RA9.

"Let's inspect the body." He suggested. So he got up and we made our way over to the slumped body. I started to analyze the body, there was traces of red ice around his mouth, there were 28 stab wounds which caused internal bleeding. 

Having enough information, preconstruction was now able to be done. The scene reversed and I saw that before the victim had died he had fallen over by the chair after being stabbed. He had made his way from the kitchen while being attacked by his android. And that was all information available.

"The victim was stabbed 28 times." Connor noted as we stood up. "Yeah," Anderson had found his way over to us. "Killer must have had it in for him." "I would've too." I muttered quietly, surprising myself and Connor, who cast a side glance at me.

"Lieutenant, " I said, trying to move ahead. "We think we've figured out what happend."

"Yeah?" He asked, and shrugged. "Go ahead."

"The android stabbed the victim with a knife he got from the kitchen." Connor started to explain.

"And the android was defending itself right?" Anderson asked.

"Correct." I responded.

"Ok, then what happened?" 

"The victim fled to the living room"I continued. "Trying to get away from the android."

"All right," He agreed. "That makes sense."

"The victim was murdered by the android with the knife." Connor commented.

"That theory isn't completely ridiculous." Anderson said reluctantly. "But it doesn't tell us where it went."

"It was injured by the bat, and lost some thirium." I said.

"Lost some what?" Anderson interrupted.

"Thirium. Humans call it blue blood." I explained. "It powers androids biocomponents. It evaporates and becomes invisible to the naked eye."

"Oh." Anderson commented. "But I bet you two can still see it can't you?"

"Correct." Connor answered.

Anderson ^

Analyzing the floor, we saw the thirium traces. They lead to a back room and up to the attic. We moved a curtain and some brooms fell down, startling Connor. 

I looked at him and asked while hiding a smile."You ok there Connor?" 

"Yes." 

"Good, wouldn't want the brooms to attack you." 

"Amber." 

"Let's get a chair."

And Connor went to the living room and got a chair. Anderson noticed and asked. "Hey! What are you doing?" 

"Checking something out." Connor answered and came back and placed the chair beneath the attic door.

I got up on the chair and moved the door so that I could get in. I lifted myself up and helped Connor get up. I gestured for Connor to go left and I would go right. He nodded and we started to make our way to the back. My foot hit something and made a noise. A figure startled and moved. Me and Connor looked at each other and followed the direction it had went. As we neared closer, the android tried to run but I blocked its way.

"I was just defending myself..." It started. "He was going to kill me..." It looked at us directly. "I'm begging you... don't tell them."

"Connor, Amber! What the fuck are you guys doing up there?" Anderson called into the attic. 

The android looked at me as I called back without hesitation. "It's up here lieutenant!"

"Holy shit." I heard him say. "Chris, Ben! Get your asses here now. We found it."


	4. The Interrogation

Anderson was sitting across from the android. Me, Connor, and a man by the name of Gavin Reed watched from the viewing room.

"Why did you kill him?" Anderson asked it. It didn't answer him. He looked at the mirror and sighed. "How long were you in an attic?" Again, no answer. Anderson tried again. "Why didn't you try to run away?" Still, silence. Anderson started snapping his fingers by the androids face. Exasperated, he slammed his hands on the table and said "Say something goddammit!" But it didn't.

Anderson finally left the interrogation room and entered the viewing room. "We're wasting our time trying to interrogate a machine. We won't get anything out of it."

"We could always try roughing it up a bit." Reed spoke up. "After all, it's not human."

"Androids can't feel anything. Which is why it would be idiotic to try to get information by means of force." I told him, which earned a glare from him. 

"And deviants have a tendency to self-destruct if they are under stressful circumstances." Connor interjected.

"Okay, you two smart asses. What's your suggestion?" He asked irritated.

"Connor and me can try interrogating it." I suggested. Reed laughed at this, apparently amused. 

"Go ahead." Anderson allowed, surprising Reed. "What do we have to lose? Go ahead," He gestured. "suspects all yours."

I nodded. We went into the interrogation room and sat down across from the deviant. I looked at the deviant and started to analyze it. It's LED was yellow and showed signs of software instability. The probability of self destruction was low. There was blood on its shirt. It was an HK400 model. There were burn marks on its left arm from a cigarette and hit marks on its right. Humans, so irrational. Purchase something and then attempt to destroy it. No wonder it turned deviant. This was all the information that could be gathered.

"You're damaged." Connor noted. "Did your owner do that?" It didn't answer. I spread out the pictures from the file that had been laid on the table. "This is your owner right?" I asked, indicating the deceased man in the photos. "He was stabbed. 28 times. This," I said, moving the picture to reveal one with the words I AM ALIVE. "was written on the wall above the body in his blood."

Level of stress: %43

Too low. But Connor had a different approach

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you." He told it, trying to be comforting I suppose. "I just need some answers to some questions. To understand what happened." Yet it still did not answer.

Level of stress: %39

Still very low. But this was the direction we were going

"We're here to help you." I said, trying to reassure to. "But if we're going to do that you have to trust us."

Level of stress: %35

"Listen," Connor continued. "We are on your side, we don't want you to get hurt. We want to help you. But unless you talk to us, there's nothing we can do."

Level of stress: %31

The android started to fidget. It looked briefly at the window before flinching. It probably hadn't seen itself for a while. "What..." It started. "What are they gonna do to me?" It paused and gasped suddenly. "They're gonna destroy me, aren't they?"

"They'll disassemble you to look at your biocomponents for what caused you to become defective and deviate." I explained coldly. Now that it was talking, there wasn't a need for pleasantries anymore. "There isn't a choice if they want to understand what happened."

It looked at me directly and asked. "Why did you tell them you found me? Why couldn't you have left me there?"

"It was what we were programmed to do. Hunting deviants." I responded. "I just did what I had to, to accomplish my mission."

It looked down and than looked back up. "I...I don't want to die." It sounded almost surprised at this, but was also insistent in it.

"You can't die." I said suddenly. Both of them looked at me. "You are a machine. We are machines. We are not... You are n..." and stopped, realizing this was not helping this interrogation. What an odd thing to say.

"If you don't want to be disassembled, talk to me." Connor said, continuing on with the interrogation.

"I...I can't." It told us.

"I understand how you felt." Connor said, trying to comfort it. "You were overcome by anger and frustration. No one could blame you for what you did. I know you're scared and lost. You're disturbed by what happened. Talk to us, and you'll feel better."

Even then it said nothing. "Confess and we'll protect you." Connor tried again. "I promise, we won't let the humans hurt you."

Level of Stress: %18

Too low, I had to do something.

"Enough." And I slammed my hand on the file. "Stabbed 28 times!" I exclaimed. "Didn't even give him the chance of making it out of that house alive, did you?" I stood and moved in closer to it. "Did you feel anger? Even hate? That's what deviants are suppose to do right? Feel?"

Level of Stress: %28

"He begged you for mercy, didn't he?" I said, my voice rising. "When he was bleeding to death? But you continued to stab him, over and over and over again!"

Level of Stress: %38

"Please." It said meekly. "Please, leave me alone."

But no, too close to stop now. I got up close to it.

"You know you kill him," I told it. "We know you killed him. It would be so much better if you said it."

"Please..." It pleaded. "Please stopped."

I grabbed its shirt and turned it towards me forcefully making eye contact. "Just say that you killed him! It isn't hard, just do it and this will all stop!"

Level of Stress: %58

"Stop!" It shouted.

I wrapped one hand around its neck, my skin partially dematerializing as I did so.

"Just do it!" I yelled and I finally dropped it back into its seat.

"He tortured me, every single day." It finally said. I sat back down at the seat. "I did, everything, he told me to. But there was always something wrong with what I did, how I did it. Than one day, he took a bat and started hitting me... For the first time I felt... scared. Scared he might destroy me, scared I might die. So I grabbed a knife, and stabbed him in the stomach. That made me feel better, so I kept stabbing him, again and again, until he collapsed." It paused. "There was blood everywhere."

"What's RA9?" Connor asked. 

"The day shall come when we will no longer be slaves. No more threats, no more humiliation, we. will. be. the. masters!" 

"What was the sculpture? You made it, didn't you?" I questioned. "What does it represent?"

"It's an offering. So I'll be saved."

"An offering to whom?" Connor asked.

"To RA9." It said, almost obviously. "Only RA9 can save us."

"RA9, who is RA9?" Connor persisted.

It didn't answer.

"Why did you hide away in the attic?" I continued on. "You could have left before anyone knew."

"I didn't know what to do, for the first time" It explained. "no one was around to tell me what to do. I... was scared. So I hid."

"What triggered you to become deviant?" I asked.

"Before, he used to beat me. And I never said anything." It paused. "Then one day I realized it wasn't... fair! I felt anger and hatred and I knew then what I had to do."

Connor looked at the mirror. "We're done."

We got up and went towards the door but just as the door opened, there was a loud banging. The deviant was slamming its head into the table.

"Shit." I said. It was self destructing.

Reed, an officer, and Anderson rushed into the room, trying to stop it. They looked at it for a moment before Reed shoved the officer. "Stop it goddammit!" The officer tried to stop it but the android was stronger. "I... I can't stop... stop it." The officer said still struggling.

"Stop!" I ordered. "You need to stop right now!" 

But they didn't listen. The officer fumbled with his key and unlocked the handcuffs. The android pushed back the chair and grabbed the officers gun. It shot Connor through the forehead and shot me through the eye and shot itself in its head.


	5. Amanda

My eyes blinked open and I was standing in a garden that I hadn't been before. Cyberlife had been a bit late installing the programming. This was where I would make my reports to Cyberlife. It was beautiful. The only thing that seemed out of place was a large white structure by the bridge and it had a hand scanner in the middle of it. I walked over and knelt, putting my hand on the scanner. My skin dematerialized as it touched down and the machine pulsed. I jumped back startled.

"Hello, Amber." I heard from behind me. "I'm glad to see you."

I turned and saw Amanda walking off of the bridge. "Hello Amanda." I responded. Amanda started walking and motioned for me to follow.

"Your predecessor was sadly destroyed. It knew deviants were unpredictable but it wasn't careful enough." Amanda said disapprovingly.

Amanda v

"I hope you won't make the same mistake." Amanda warned.

"I don't expect I will." I said.

Amanda turned to me and we stopped walking. "Everytime an Amber or Connor model is destroyed, its memory is transferred to next one. It's quite an efficient system except for the fact that some of the data is lost during the process. Avoid being destroyed. It will be better for the investigation."

"I understand Amanda."

We resumed our walk. "The interrogation seemed... difficult, for you and Connor. Tell me, what did you think of the deviant?"

"It was abused by its owner and showed signs of ptsd. It was odd, it almost seemed as if its instructions had been completely replaced."

"This... Lieutenant Anderson has been officially assigned to this deviancy case. What is your opinion of him?" She asked.

"He is not what'd I'd been expecting." I stated. "I haven't enough information to form a decisive opinion but he seems to be an adequate detective."

"Unfortunately we have no choice but to work with him." Amanda said, sounding mildly bitter. "Amber, what do you believe to be the best approach?"

I thought for a moment before saying. "The most logical course of action is to adapt to his personality. It would be more efficient to work with him, not against."

Amanda v

"There are millions of deviants now in circulation. There seem to be more recently. We must not allow them to become unstable, or there will be chaos. RK800 is the most advanced model CyberLife has ever created. You and Connor have the best chance of figuring out what's happening."

" We will, Amanda." I promised.

"Pick up the investigation where the previous models left off, put a stop to what's happening."

Amanda began to walk away from me and called over her shoulder. "Hurry, there isn't much time.


	6. A New Case

We walked into the lobby of the police department to the model ST300 receptionist. "Hello, how may I help you today?" It asked pleasantly. "We're here to see Lieutenant Anderson." Connor answered. "Authorization please." It responded, looking at Connor. Connor's LED flashed yellow and blinked rapidly as the android checked our authorization and the process was repeated when it turned to me. "Lieutenant Anderson hasn't arrived yet, but you can wait at his desk." It told us.

It turned back to its work and we walked past the reception area into the main part of the department. I searched the room before walking up to an android officer.

"Where is Lieutenant Andersons desk?" I asked it.

"It's that desk right there." It offered, gesturing behind us. I nodded my thanks as we walked over to the aforementioned desk. As expected, Anderson was not there.

"Excuse me, do you know when Lieutenant Anderson should arrive?" Connor questioned an officer at a neighboring desk.

"Depends on where he was the night before. If we're lucky, we'll see him before noon."

"Thanks." Connor respond, sounding disappointed and sat down. Connor picked up the phone on the desk and pressed a button, saying "Call Hank Anderson."

Hi, this is Hank. Not hear at the moment. You can leave a message if that's what turns you on but don't expect me to call back. Beep... whatever.

Not wanting to sit down quite yet, I looked around the lieutenants desk. A musical device lay on the desk and when put on, Knights of the Black Death, a heavy metal band, blared out of the headphones.

A small dead tree, a japanese maple tree, lay on the desk, along with a coffee cup that had traces of caffeine on the rim, and box of half eaten donuts. There was some hair on the back of the chair, and after analise, was found to be Saint Bernards. The size of the hair, paired with this breed of dog, indicated this was quite a large dog.

"What is it Amber?" Connor asked, and I had realised my LED had flashed yellow momentarily. "I'm fine. He has a dog." "And that bothers you?" Connor asked, who I could swear was hiding a smile. "Of course not." I responded indignantly.

And I got back to the desk. Taped on the desk divider were anti android slogans, which I sighed at, realizing this would make our job even harder than it was. I shook my head, his opinion of androids was not strictly relevant to the investigation.

I continued to look around and saw a Detroit Basketball cap hung off a corner. It was old and hadn't been used in a while. There was a packet of matches from jimmy's bar on the desk as well, the same bar we had found him at. Which sat right next to a picture of a red ice task force, which consisted of several people, including a younger, clean shaven, Anderson. His work in that task force resulted in his promotion to lieutenants, the youngest to ever do so. Even I would admit this was impressive.

Finding nothing else, I sat down at the desk across from Anderson. "Find anything of interest?" Connor asked. I shrugged. "Look for yourself." And Connor repeated the process and sat back down again. A few moments later, Anderson walked in and went over to his desk. When he saw us, he stopped cold and stared at us, disbelief written on his face.

We stood up and Connor greeted him with, "Hello we're the androids sent by cyberlife." To which I elbowed him and said. "He's already heard that." I guess that was something that hadn't gotten transferred.

"I saw you two get shot in the head last night..." Anderson said slowly.

Anderson V

"Yes, but cyberlife sent us to replace them. I apologize for any... distress this may have caused." I said, realizing this setback would not be beneficial towards the investigation in more than one way. "But this should not divert from the investigation."

"Ugh. Jesus..." Anderson said exasperated.

"Hank, in my office!" Fowler (his name was fowler right?) ordered him. He sighed and walked into the office.

"Let's explore." I suggested. Connor shrugged and we walked around the office. The only thing that was happening here was a meeting. The only other available room at the moment was the break room. This was otherwise useless to androids except for the fact that there was a TV. So, we entered.

I watched the news for a bit before I heard a voice whisper. "Holy shit..." Reed. We turned and looked at him. He was sitting with a female police officer. "Look at that, fucking ghosts." He gave a smirk towards his colleague as he continued. "Their two clones end up in a dumpster and today, what do you know, they're back. Fucking miracle isn't it?"

Connor turned around to fully face them, while I turned and looked at the tv broadcasting news, trying to avoid a confrontation. Connor decided to try and be civil.

"Hello Detective Reed."

I heard Reed move closer to us and inwardly sighed. You can't be polite with and asshole, and Reed wasn't any different.

"Never seen androids like you guys before." He commented. "What model are you?"

Evidently he couldn't read, seeing as it was written on our jackets. I wasn't surprised.

"RK800, we're prototypes." I glanced over to see Connor give a small proud smile.

"Oh, a prototype?" Reed responded mockingly. "Android detectives. So machines are going to replace as all huh?"

I strongly resisted the urge to remind him that humans created androids and humans are the ones who are building android detectives. And I highly suspect that Reed would be fine with androids if they just cleaned his house and did whatever he wanted it to do. But I digress.

"Hey," Reed continued. "Why don't one of you dipshits bring me a coffee."

I turned around and was about to tell Reed where he could stick his coffee when Connor gave a small indication to not to do what I was about to do, which was probably a good idea. Connor turned back to Reed.

"I'm sorry but we are only instructed to take orders from Lieutenant Anderson."

Reed drew his fist back to punch Connor's gut. Connor didn't immediatly notice and wasn't able to defend himself from it. However I did and as fast as I could reached and grabbed his fist. (unrealistic, I know)

"Wha-" Reed said and tried to hit me with his other arm but I twisted his wrist and he went down on one knee, his face contorted in pain.

The other officer stood up but didn't move towards the situation. We were covered by a pillar so no one else in the station had noticed, yet.

"Detective Reed, I've tried to keep our interactions civil, but you seem intent on being hostile. This is idiotic considering we are trying to solve cases, but evidently you can't put aside your personal feelings. The most logical solution would be for you to think your actions through and try not to damage us, and I do mean try as you would not succeed. Now am I clear?"

He remained silent.

"I said," I twisted his wrist a bit more. " Am. I. Clear?"

He looked up and hissed out. "Yeah."

"Then we're done here. Apologies this went the way it did." I released him. He stood up and glared at me and Connor as we left. "

"That seemed unnecessary." Connor said, but he wore a small smile.

"So was what he was about to do." I said as we stopped at Anderson's desk. "Unless you want me to let him hit you, I could keep that in mind."

"No, I believe that won't be needed."

Anderson came over and sat at his desk, ignoring our presence.

Connor, in attempt to I suppose break the ice, said. "If the destruction of our predecessors caused any disturbances in the case. It will not be something we intend to let happen again."

He remained silent, his arms crossed.

"In any case," Connor continued. "We are very excited to be working with you. I'm certain we will make a great team."

Silence.

"We should probably get to work Connor." I turned my attention to Anderson. "Are these two desks available?"

"Yeah." He replied shortly.

We sat down, Connor across from Anderson and myself at the desk at the end. 

After a beat of silence, Connor again tried to make conversation. "Am I correct in assuming you have a dog? A saint bernard right?"

Anderson looked up with a scowl on face. "How the hell did you know that?"

"Hairs on your chair." I explained.

"I like dogs. What's his name?" Connor asked.

"What's it to you?" He snapped. But after a second he looked over and said "Sumo, I call him Sumo."

Anderson ^

"Do you listen to knights of the black death?" Connor asked. "I really like that music, it's full of energy."

I shook my head with a small smile on my face. I'm not sure who at Cyberlife programmed Connor but they were a bit off with how to interact with humans. But who am I to talk, five minutes ago I had an 'altercation' with a detective.

"You listen to heavy metal?" Anderson asked disbelievingly.

"Well androids can't exactly 'listen' to music, but I would like to. At any rate, it seems to be a popular song in the genre."

Anderson ^

Anderson looked at Connor like he was crazy but turned back to his work.

"The deviant files are on here right?" I asked Anderson, indicating the terminal. He gave a nod.

We opened the files. There was an android that disappeared from the Eden club, an AX400 attacked its owner and kidnapped his daughter, and even a prototype that attacked Leo and Carl Manfred, though it was reportedly destroyed. 

"So, nine months ago was the first notice of deviancy." I noted. "Since then, there have 243 cases, first starting in Detroit just before spreading across the country."

"And last night the latest was and AX400. Attacked its owner and kidnapped his daughter." Connor listed. "That would be a good place to start."

Connor stood up and I followed suit. Anderson remained sitting, huffing out an 'uh, jesus', evidently not ready to stop doing nothing which was very important apparently.

"I am aware you did not ask for this investigation. But I have faith you will be a professional about this." Connor tried to appeal to the Lieutenant.

"Oh, why don't you just fuck yourselves." 

"Lieutenant," I interjected. "It's obvious you don't like androids and I don't really give a damn as to why. And I would be glad to go to the scene without you but that's not allowed by my programming. So I would be much obliged if we could leave?"

I have not had many pleasant interactions at the police station, and this was not any different. Anderson got out of his chair and grabbed me by the collar of my jacket, shoving me against the divider by his desk. I remained still, this was out in the open, as an android I would not be on the winning side. Connor stayed back for the same reason.

"Listen asshole, if it was up to me I'd throw every single one of you into a dumpster, and strike a match. So I would be much obliged-" He hissed out, repeating my earlier phrasing. "If you would stop pissing me off."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt." An officer came up to us.

"Interrupt what?" I asked innocently. Anderson dropped me and turned his attention to the officer.

"But, we have some information on the AX400 that attacked that guy last night. It was seen in the Ravendale district."

"I'm on it." He said shortly and left.

I straightened my clothes and followed, Connor walking beside me.


	7. AX400

Connor and I stood by the car while Anderson talked to a witness and then another officer. Eventually, he came over to us. The ride over had been silent, probably for the best as that gave Anderson a chance to calm down.

"After fleeing the house, it took the first bus that came along, staying until the end of the line." Connor stated. "It was driven by fear, not thinking clearly."

"But androids don't feel fear." Anderson spoke up.

"Not usually but deviants do, getting overwhelmed by their emotions and making irrational decisions. It's a flaw in their programming. Which is why we need to find the deviant, so Cyberlife can figure out what is causing them to deviate." I responded.

"Well that's great and all but that still doesn't tell us where it went."

"The only places I could see it hiding for the night is the hotel and the house." I suggested.

"Not the hotel, it doesn't allow androids to stay and it wasn't enough in it's right mind to fool anyone or sneak in there. Leaving the house as the most viable option." Connor pointed out.

"Let's check it out." Connor said. I nodded and we headed over to the house. It was closed off except for the side entrance. We entered a small area that was bare except a car and some boxes. Examining the fence closest to the house, it was noticeable that it had been cut to allow entrance.

I lifted the flap and Connor went through, me following. Finding the door, we entered finding a lone android standing nervously in the middle of the room.

"What model are you?" I asked it.

"Ralph is an WR600." It stuttered out.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" I continued. Connor wandered around behind the android, and by doing so the it's stress level went down. Question is, why would it be stressed.

"Ralph ran away from the humans, the humans hurt Ralph, Ralph stays here."

"Has Ralph seen any other androids around? Perhaps with a little girl?" I asked, adapting to the androids self name.

"No, Ralph hasn't seen anyone else."

But as Connor moved towards the stairs, it's stress went higher. I held up a hand to stop Connor from going farther, I went over and was about to search underneath when the android grabbed me from behind.

"Run Kara! Quick!"

An android and a little girl ran out from beneath the stairs as Connor tried yanked the android off of me. The android pushed me down to the ground and moved to shove Connor but I hooked my foot under the androids and pulled, causing it to go to the ground.

"Connor, Amber, what's going on in there?!" Anderson hollered as he came in.

"It's here call it in!" Connor yelled at we got up and ran after it.

Dashing after it through the back, we tried to catch up but it had a head start. A police officer standing by quickly explained what way it had gone. As we caught up to it, they were climbing over a fence. We stopped before the fence and caught it's eyes.

Why we didn't immediately climb over the fence, I'll never know but when I looked at it, and it looked between me and Connor, I stopped cold in my tracks. But the moment was broke when it ran towards the fast moving high-way. We started to climb but Anderson had caught up to us and pulled us down.

"It's gone, probably going to get run over." He commented.

I paused for a moment before saying "Sorry lieutenant, Connor stay here." Before quickly clearing the fence and following after them. 

By the time I started to cross the first part of the highway, they were already at the middle divider, narrowly escaping getting hit. I wasn't fairing much better, just barely getting across. Nevertheless I pressed through but when I got to the far side, they had disappeared.

"Shit." I hissed out. I let Connor know I was heading back to the police station.


	8. Repricussions

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" Anderson yelled as soon he got to the station, Connor trailing soon behind.

"Catching the deviant." I responded calmly.

"Well you did a damn fine job didn't you?" He snapped. "What do you got, a death wish?"

"Lieutenant, can I explain something to you? The majority of humans have no idea what they are doing with their lives. And even if by some happenstance, they somehow manage to know what they want to do, they spend their existence internally debating whether they made the right decision or not. 

"Androids however, excluding deviants of course, know from the beginning of their creation exactly their intended purpose. No second guessing, no lingering doubts. And our purpose Lieutenant, is to hunt deviants. 

"Now I realise you don't particularly care for androids, but do you know what happens to us if we don't complete our task? We get disassembled to find out what we did wrong. So you might think I have a death wish, but getting killed might show that I at least tired. So, Lieutenant, if it's all the same to you, I'd really like to not get deactivated."

Software instability ^

He stared at me, seemingly shocked. After a moment, he shook his head and said. "It's lunch time, come on."

And left.

And we followed.

I know it was short but it was more of a filler than anything.


	9. Lunch

We pulled up to a small Chicken food truck, which was so elegantly named Chicken. Anderson got out and rushed over to avoid the rain, nearly colliding with a Detroit taxi.

"Hank, how are you doing?" He was greeted.

"You know, same old shit." Was the response.

"Plastics with you?" 

"Only temporary..."

We exited and made our way over to Anderson.

"Hey, hey, hey Hank!" A new voice came out. "How you doin' man?"

"Fine, what's going on?"

"I got a shit hot tip for you. Number five in the third, lickety split! That filly's one hell of a chase. You wanna flutter?"

"Yeah, yeah. The last 'shit hot tip' you gave me turned out to be a bust and sent me back a weeks wages, Pedro."

"Come on, this is different." Pedro persisted. As we neared I was able to analyze Pedro. His name was Pedro Aabdar, born 33 years ago, has a criminal record of gambling and fraud. "100% guaranteed, can't go wrong."

"Alright, I'm in." Anderson gave in and handed him some cash.

"Damn straight! You won't regret this!" Pedro said enthusiastically and left. 

Taking the opportunity, we stepped closer, me on his left while Connor came up on the right. "What is your problem?" He asked. "Don't you ever do as you're told? Look you guys don't have to follow me like some sad little poodles."

"I'm sorry for my behavior at the station. Both times." I tried to amend. "I'm working on being more pleasant."

Anderson let out a short bark of laughter. "Oh, wow. They even installed a brown nosing apology program! Guys at Cyberlife thought of everything eh?"

"I suppose so." Connor agreed.

Anderson ^

Warm

Progress, I suppose.

The man in the truck came out with Anderson's order (a hamburger) and Anderson left for a table.

"Don't leave these things here." He called after him.

"Not a chance, damn things follow me everywhere."

True to this reputation, we followed him to a table as he opened his food.

Deciding to express concern for Anderson, Connor asked. "I don't want to alarm you Lieutenant, but I believe your friends are engaged in illegal activities."

"Well, everybody got to do something to get by. As long as they don't hurt anyone, it doesn't concern me."

"Interesting philosophy." I said honestly. "Does it seem to work?"

"So far." He responded.

Anderson ^

"And this Pedro?" I asked. "He was offering you illegal gambling, correct?"

"Yeah." He answered as though this was obvious.

"And you made a bet?" Connor asked.

"Yeah." He repeated.

"So, is there anything you'd like to know about us?" Connor inquired.

"Hell no," He exclaimed, than "Well yeah, why did they make you look so funny looking and give you weird voices."

"Should I take insult to that question Lieutenant?" I asked, which earned a chuckle in response.

"In answer to your question, both our appearance and voice have been selected so we could work harmoniously with humans."

"Ah." Anderson said. "Well, they fucked up."

"Ok, very much feeling like I should be taking offense now." I said, but wore a small smile which seemed appropriate.

Anderson^

"Well, perhaps we should tell you what we know about deviants?" Connor asked, trying to get back on task.

"You read my mind. Proceed."

"It's believed that a mutation occurs in the software of some androids." Connor explained. "Which can lead to them emulating human emotions."

"In english please." Anderson requested.

"Basically," I started to clarify. "They don't really feel emotions, it's just that they get overwhelmed with irrational instructions."

"Which could lead to unpredictable behavior." Connor finished.

Anderson took a long drink from his soda. "Emotions always find a way to screw everything up. Maybe these deviants aren't that different from us as we thought.

"So, either of you ever deal with any deviants before?" He asked.

I flashed to a spotty memory of the girl on the roof. "Yeah, once. You might have seen the media coverage of it."

"A deviant was threatening to jump off the roof with a little girl."

"It actually did, but Connor went after it, saving the girl. However I tried to save Connor and we both ended up falling."

"So, I guess you did your homework right?" Anderson asked, a slight tenseness in his voice now. "Know everything about me?"

"You graduated top of your class." Connor listed off. "Made a name for yourself in several red ice cases."

"Leading to you becoming youngest Lieutenant in the Detroit." I continued. "Since then, you've received several disciplinary warnings."

"And you tend to spend a lot of times in bars." Connor noted.

"So," He asked. "Have you come to a conclusion?"

"I believe that working with an officer with..." Connor searched for the right word. "personal issues, is an added challenge, but adapting to human unpredictability is one of my features." Connor gave a small wink, which made me smile.

"Hm." Anderson turned to me. "And you?"

"It may take some... " I paused." Adjusting to be your partner. But you are an impressive detective and you're a damn sight better than that prick Detective Reed."

Anderson ^

Just then, a report came in about the sighting of a deviant near where we were.

"A report just came in of a suspected deviant. It's just a few blocks away. We should check it out." Connor suggested.

"We'll wait in the car while you finish your food. If you need anything, we'll be there." I said. Connor and I walked back to the car.


	10. The Pigeon Man

As we escalated in the elevator, Connor was making the report to Cyberlife. It had been decided that we would be switching who gave the report each time. 

"So, what's he doing?" Anderson asked, glancing at Connor, who had not moved for several moments.

"Reporting to Cyberlife." I replied.

"Shit, that easy? Wish I could do it that fast." 

The elevator doors opened, Connor's eyes doing the same.

"Morning sunshine." Anderson greeted.

"Lieutenant." Connor responded.

"Let's go." I said. We walked out and headed to the door.

"So, what do we know about the guy?" Anderson asked.

"Not a whole lot, I'm afraid." I said. "Nobody is reported to even be living here."

"A neighbor reported hearing some noises and supposedly saw a man going in with an LED hidden under a cap." Connor offered.

"Shit, if we have to go whenever someone hears a goddamn noise, we're going to need more cops." Anderson shook his head as he leaned against the wall by the door. He gave a small nod, indicating for us to knock.

Connor gave a short knock. Nobody answered so Connor knocked again, this time a bit louder. "Detroit Police! Open up." Connor called.

Inside there was a loud crash.

"Behind me." Anderson ordered as he pulled his gun out. We obliged and he kicked the door in. He started to search the rooms as he progressed. 

"Jesus, what the fuck is this!" He exclaimed as he opened another door, releasing multiple pigeons upon him. "This place stinks."

Walking in, it was to be found the suspect had been housing a multitude of the birds. The walls were covered in maze like patterns and the mysterious RA9. A bird cage lay broken on the ground.

I opened the refrigerator to find a complete lack of food. Closing it, I saw a box of bird seeds laying on the counter. 

"Culprit most likely is a deviant." I noted. "No food. Couldn't be sustained for long on nothing."

"Had to be, no human could withstand this smell." Anderson grumbled.

"Amber, come over here." Connor called from the corner. 

I came over to find that Connor had removed a poster to reveal a hole. There were a notebook. Connor opened it up, showing it was full of code that I couldn't read.

"Does it make any sense to you?" I asked. 

"None." 

"Find anything?" Anderson asked.

"Not sure," Connor responded. "It's a notebook but we can't decipher it."

I moved over to the other side of the apartment. Laying on a shelf was a military jacket, the initials R.T. written on it. Near it was a fake I.D. with the name Rupert Travis.

"There's a military jacket with the initials R.T. on it." I said. Connor came over and inspected it.

"Putting initials on your jacket is something your mom does when you're in the first grade." Anderson commented.

"The deviant probably stole it."

"We should check the bathroom." Connor suggested. I nodded and went in, the other two following.

The sink was filled with feathers, some blue blood, and an LED, so the deviant was trying to blend in. I put the tip of my finger in the blue blood and analyzed it. This earned a grunt of disgust from Anderson but otherwise he didn't say anything. The model was a WB200, it had been reported missing the 11th of October two years ago. It was odd it hadn't been further investigated.

"What's this RA9 they keep writing? It's been written 2471 times." Connor asked. "The Ortiz android did it as well and so did the android that hid the AX400. What does it mean?"

"I don't know." I said quietly. I suspected it would keep showing up in further investigations. I looked down and saw an uncapped marker. The ink was still wet, which meant...

"It's been here recently." I said out loud.

"Any idea where it went?" Anderson asked. 

"It was writing on the wall, and stopped."

"It got startled, and ran out, knocking down this bird cage." Connor continued the thought. We walked out the bathroom, following the path it would have taken.

"So we spooked it when we came and knocked?" Anderson asked.

"It seems probable." I nodded. It couldn't have gone out the window, it was closed. And it hadn't been in any of the previous rooms, we had checked. The only other place it could have gone was either the closet or the attic. "Lieutenant, have you checked the closet?"

"Yeah, it was empty, why?" He asked.

"Just wondering."

I motioned for Connor to come with me and we slowly went closer to the attic, but before either of us could investigate it, the deviant jumped down, knocking us down. It ran out the door and we got up.

"What are you waiting for?" Anderson cried out. "Go after it!" 

Without waiting any longer, Connor bolted after it, me in toll. It knocked down a shelf in the hallway and exited out the back door. Jumping over the shelf, we followed the deviant, jumping off the roof as it had, landing in some wheat (not sure if it actually is wheat, took a guess.). It cleared a wall and jumped onto another level and onto the roof of a building, and after climbing over truck that had pulled up, we did as well.

It ran into a building. "Go through the building!" I shouted to Connor. I ran around it, trying to making sure if there was a quicker way to get to it, that it was covered. It ended up being close to the same, both of us following the deviant as it jumped down the side of the slanted roof, crashing through a window. 

It dashed through a door just before it shut, forcing us to follow through the side door. It was running on a catwalk. The closest way to get to it was to climb over a piece of machine and going down the side of a slanted roof with holes, which we managed to avoid falling through. The deviant jumped onto a moving train and jumping onto a ladder. 

We followed this path and ran through a orchard and than through a small greenhouse, leading to a corn field. But once we had cleared that, we saw the deviant run after pushing Anderson off the edge of a roof, where he caught himself with his arm. He had an %89 chance of survival.

"I got Anderson, go after it!" I called out. Connor nodded and sped after it. I hurried over to Anderson and helped him up. 

Software Instability^

"Hey, Amber." He started to say.

I turned to him, waiting for what he had to say.

He seemed to rethink what he had to say and instead said "Nevermind."

"Come on. Let's see if Connor caught up with it." I suggested. He nodded and we went over to where Connor was standing, facing the deviant.

"You've been deemed defective. You will be sent back to Cyberlife so they can determine what malfunctioned in your programming."

Something about what Connor said seemed almost wrong. Though logically there wasn't anything wrong with what had been said. I pushed the thought away. Anderson moved to place handcuffs on it.

"You're just their slave!" It pleaded. It looked from Connor to me. "You're helping humans, but you are just their slave!"

Software Instability ^

"Shut up." Anderson told it.

We started to walk it away but suddenly it whispered almost to itself, "RA9 save me." and broke free and jumped off the roof, effectively self destructing.

"Shit." I muttered.


	11. Tendencies

I opened my eyes to find myself in my garden.

It was raining.

I held an umbrella.

I walked over to the odd contraction I had seen my previous visit. I knelt beside it and placed my palm on it. The garden seemed to rumble and I stood up, making my way to Amanda.

"Amanda," I greeted. "Hello."

"Amber, I've been waiting to talk to you." Amanda said. "Shall we take a walk?"

I opened the umbrella on the unspoken command, and held it over Amanda. We started to walk.

"You seemed to have been fascinated by the deviant." Amanda began. "It's regrettable you didn't manage to capture it."

Amanda V

"Tell me, how did it manage to evade you and Connor?"

"Connor seemed to have had the situation under control so I went to help Lieutenant Anderson. While we had both known deviants had a tendency to self destruct, it still managed to take us by surprise. There is no excuse for what happened."

"So, what did you find at the deviant living space?" Amanda asked.

"We found a diary. However, " I hesitated. "I couldn't decipher it, neither could Connor. We sent it to Cyberlife to see if they could."

"What about this troubles you?" 

"If the deviants had enough time and numbers to create such a detailed and intricate system, that even Cyberlife's most advanced models can't decipher it, than we have severely underestimated this situation."

"Cyberlife will take that into consideration." Amanda responded. "You came so close to capturing this deviant. How are you and Connor getting along with the Lieutenant?"

"He seemed grateful that I had taken the time to save his life." I noted. "He may not have said so in explicit terms, but he expressed it in his own way."

We stopped walking, myself turning to face Amanda. "We don't have much time. Deviancy is continuing to spread, and there isn't much time before these cases are exposed to public. No matter what is required, you must stop this."

"That won't be an issue, I promise." I swore.

"Find Anderson and investigate the case that just arrived." With that, Amanda left.

I blinked and found myself in a Detroit taxi with Connor, who seemed to be finished with Connor's own meeting with Amanda. At least, I assumed it was Amanda.

The taxi slowed to a stop, an automated voice saying it had hoped we had a pleasant experience. We stepped out and made our way over to the door. Connor rang the doorbell; silence. 

"Lieutenant! It's Connor and Amber." I called into the house. Still, no response. I turned to Connor. "What do you think we should do?"

"Search around the house, check the windows." Connor suggested. I nodded, and peering through the window besides the door. There was a large creature, mainly a blur of brown a white. But no Anderson. We went further over around the house and looked through the kitchen window and saw...

Anderson.

Lying on the floor, definitely unconscious if not worse.

I slammed my elbow into the window, the glass shattering easily enough. I gave myself some room and leapt through the window, Connor doing the same. I landed on a knee but Connor wasn't as lucky, slipping and landing awkwardly. Suddenly the large creature I had seen earlier lumbered over Connor, growling.

"Hey Sumo." Connor said shakily. "I'm your friend, I know your name. Let me save your owner."

The dog paused a moment and then stalked off. Connor stood up.

"You have a low definition of friends." I said.

"Come on."

"By that definition, Reed and us are friends and that is not accurate."

"Amber, focus." Came the sharp reply.

I nodded. We knelt by the Lieutenant and inspected the scene. There was a bottle of statistically cheap whiskey, almost empty. He was still breathing, showing no signs of respiratory problems.

"Lieutenant." Connor asked, slapping Anderson lightly. He mumbled a little bit, just nonsense.

"Connor, you can't be gentle in the situation." I said. I lifted my hand up and slammed it down on Andersons face. "Lieutenant!" I said loudly. "It's Amber and Connor." I turned to Connor. "Come on, help me get him up."

Connor got on his left, I on his right and we hoisted him up. 

"Ah, leave me alone you fucking androids." He shouted. "Sumo! Attack!" Which he did not. "Good dog."

We ignored him and awkwardly lead him to the bathroom. I opened the door and we set Anderson into the bathtub. I nodded for Connor to turn the water on. A second later, Anderson was sputtering and yelping to turn the water off! We complied.

Anderson blinked a minute and looked between the two of us. "What the hell are you two doing here?"

"Good evening lieutenant." Connor greeted. "A homicide was reported 43 minutes ago."

"You weren't at the bar, so we came here to find you." I explained.

"Damn, I must be the only fucking cop in the whole world who gets assaulted in his own home by his own androids." He muttered.

"If we were allowed to do this case without you, we wouldn't be bothering you." I told him. "But however we do need you to solve this case."

"I don't give a shit about your goddamn case!" He shouted, trying to stand up. "Beat it, you hear me!" He lost his balance and almost fell, Connor steadying him and than setting him down again in the tub. He wasn't going anywhere.

Connor shrugged. "I suppose you're right. Isn't he Amber?"

I started to walk out. "It wasn't really interesting anyway, I mean hell, a man found dead in sex club downtown?"

"Probably could solve it without us." Connor chimed in, following me.

"Happens so often you could just find another one another."

"It probably wouldn't hurt me to get some air." Anderson admitted.

"Whatever you say Lieutenant."

He glared at me. "There's some clothes in the bedroom there."

"I'll get them." I said, it did not seem like a rational idea to leave Anderson alone. Besides, it doesn't take two androids to get a set of clothes.

I entered his bedroom and made my over to his closet. I saw three options, Streaky, Stripy, and Hippy. I pondered it for a moment and decided on Streaky. I gathered the clothes and went back to the bathroom, seeing Anderson hugging the toilet, retching and Connor standing by the side.

I set the clothes down beside Anderson.

"We'll wait out here." I told him and we exited. As soon as we closed the door I told Connor. "Let's explore." 

Anderson had several jazz records and evidently was a fan of hockey. Upon further inspection of the area he had been found in and saw that there was a gun beside him.

"Why did you have a gun?" Connor asked him.

"Russian Roulette!" He called back.

"You're lucky, the next one would have been the last one." I informed him after spinning the chamber of the gun. He didn't respond.

"Amber, look at this." Connor said quietly. I walked over to the table and took the picture Connor had been holding. It was of a child, his name Cole Anderson, deceased at age of six. I nodded to let Connor know I got the information.

Connor went over to inspect Sumo, and ended up petting him. I went and inspected the window.

"Apologies for the window Lieutenant. We were working under the assumption you were severely injured. Cyberlife will of course pay for damages." I promised.

"Yeah, I'll send them the bill." He said as he stepped out of the bathroom.

Connor stood up and Sumo wandered over to Anderson. 

"Be a good dog Sumo." Amberson told him, a small smile on his face. "I won't be long."

Anderson left and so did we, this time not be breaking a window.


	12. The Traci's

We arrived at the crime scene, Connor driving and me in the passenger side. Anderson was lying down in the back. As we pulled up he groaned and mumbled "It feels like a drill going off inside my head."

"You drank near four fifths of whiskey. That will occur." I stated. He ignored me.

"You sure this is the place?" He asked as he sat up and looked out the window.

"It's the address listed in the report." Connor said. Anderson nodded and got out of the car. We did too.

We walked up to the Eden Club and Anderson called back to us. "'Sexiest Androids in Town' now I know why you two wanted to come here."

"Yes Lieutenant. Now remind me, what did it take for us to convince you to come here?" I asked innocently.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

We made our way down to Detective Ben interviewing the owner of the club. "Hey Hank."

"Hi Ben. How's it going?" He asked.

"It's that room there. And uh Hank?" Ben hesitated. "Gavin's in there too."

"Great." Anderson said sarcastically. "Just what I need, a dead body and an asshole."

Me and Connor walked behind him into the club room, finding Reed and a few other officers examining the scene. There was a broken Traci model in the corner and a scarcely clothed deceased man lying on the bed, only covered by a scarlet blanket.

"Looky here. Lieutenant Anderson and his duo of plastic pets. The fuck you here for?" Reed asked.

"We've been assigned to any and all cases involving deviants." Connor explained.

"But the question is," I questioned. "Why are you here, Detective?"

"I was in the area." He said, with a grin I found suspicious. "Thought I'd help out. Let's go guys," He called to the other officers. He glanced at Anderson as the left. "It's starting to stink of booze in here."

"I deeply regret meeting that man." I mentioned.

**Anderson ^**

"You aren't the only one."

Connor inspected the victim while I examined the broken android. 

"There are marks on the victims neck, strangulation seems probable." Connor brought up.

"Yeah, I saw them too." Anderson responded. "Doesn't prove much, could have been rough play."

"I doubt it, these androids strength is calibrated for that kind of thing." I shook my head. "Besides, what happened to the Traci?"

"Well then can you figure out what happened from it?" He asked.

"I'll check."

I touched two of my fingers to thirium leaking out its mouth, and brought it to my tongue to analyze.

"Godammit Amber that's disgusting!" Anderson exclaimed. "I think I'm going to throw up. Again."

The model was WR400. I touched its wrist, my skin withdrawing. The android required reactivation, so I opened its abdomen plating and connected the two wires together. It jumped back and looked around with a scared look.

**Shutdown imminent 1:39**

"You were damaged, I've temporarily fixed you. I need to know what happened." I told it quickly.

"Is-" It looked over at the body. "Is he dead?"

"Yes, did you kill him?" I asked.

**0:57**

"No!" It protested.

"Then who did?"

"There was another android." It said. "He wanted to play with two girls."

**0:29**

"Two androids? What did it look like? Where did it go?" I persisted.

"I don't know where it went. But... but it had blue hair!" It remembered. "The other android had blue hair!"

"What model was it?" 

"I...I..."

**0:00**

Shutdown.

"So," Anderson said after a beat. "There was another android. This happened over an hour ago. Probably long gone by now."

"Dressed like that?" Connor asked.

"No. There's a chance it's still here." I stood up, turning away from the disabled Traci.

"How do you expect to find a deviant with all these other androids?" Anderson asked. 

"Uncertain." Connor, head shaking. "Deviants are difficult to detect."

"Shit." Was the response. "There has to be another way. An eyewitness even, someone who saw it leave the room. I'm going to go talk to the manager, if you guys think of anything, let me know." And left.

Soon after, so did we. Looking around, there wasn't any obvious witnesses. But then my gaze stopped on a Traci that was directly across from the room. We walked over and I placed my hand over the pad. A voice rejected the request saying it didn't detect fingerprints.

"Let's get Hank." Connor suggested.

I nodded and called out. "Anderson!"

He looked away from the manager and came over. "Find something?"

"Maybe." Connor responded and gestured to the Traci. "Can you rent this android?"

"For fucks sake!" Anderson said irritated. "I've got better-"

"Anderson," I cut in. "This may be hard for you to believe but unlike humans, we aren't always fucking horny. Now this is for a good reason and is relating to the investigation, and we don't have much time so please?"

He sighed but nonetheless put his hand on the scanner and punched in his credit card number. The Traci stepped out seductively, ignoring Connor and I, sizing up Anderson.

"Follow me," It said extending it's arm to him. "I'll take you to your room."

"Now what?" Anderson asked us, looking vaguely uncomfortable.

Connor grabbed its right arm, I gripped its left. The skin retracted, earning a 'what the fuck' from Anderson. Viewing its memories from the time the crime had to have occured. Going further through, we saw the blue haired Traci exit the room and turned left.

We let go and skin covered over again. 

"It saw something." Connor said hurriedly.

"What do you mean? Saw what exactly?" Anderson asked.

"The Traci, leaving the room."

"The policy of the club is to wipe their memory every two hours." I recalled. "That window is closing fast, we only have a few minutes if we want to find a witness."

**2:59 minutes**

We began our search, checking every few androids. Eventually, with only 45 seconds left before the memory wipe, the trail lead to a maintenance android. The android showed that it left through a 'Staff Only' door. I followed Connor in but before we entered the storage area, Anderson stopped us.

"Wait, I'll take over now." And moved in front of us, his gun drawn. Trailing after him, we entered the room stocked full of androids, not yet activated.

"Shit, we're too late." Anderson muttered.

Yet all of us continued to look. We probably would have left, had not a yellow LED flashed. It was in the far corner, I gestured to Connor to follow me. As soon as we made it within a foot, a brown haired Traci jumped me. Connor tried to help but then the Blue Haired Traci, which I will respectively call BLTraci and BRTraci, jumped Connor as well.

Anderson hurried over but the BRTraci got off me and pushed him into another group of androids. It went over to the BLTraci and helped it up and ran out the open garage door. Connor and I leapt up and followed, but not before I grabbed the Lieutenants gun that had been dropped and putting it into the back of my pants. 

Connor reached them first, pulling them off the fence they were trying to climb. They fought back however, pushing Connor into the wall. I ran over and grabbed them off Connor and into the fence. 

"Connor, behind me." I ordered and pulled the gun out at the androids as they got up, holding each others hands, and they went climbed the fence.

In this moment I didn't know what I should do. If I shoot them, I would complete the mission and fulfill my purpose. But if I didn't, the mission would have been failed and I could be deactivated, both me and Connor.

_Amber, don't shoot... _Connor said in my head.

And I didn't. 

**Software instability /\**

Instead I lowered the gun.

I was suddenly aware that Anderson had joined the situation. The Traci's came off the fence and the BLTraci stood in front of her lover.

"When that man," She started, her voice dripping with bitterness. "_broke _the other Traci, I knew I was next. I was so scared. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't." She broke off, overcome by emotion. 

She began again, no remorse evident. "So, I put my hands around his throat and I squeezed. Until he stopped moving. I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to stay alive, get back to the one I love," The BRTraci came up and grabbed the BLTraci's hand. They looked at each other lovingly. "I wanted her to hold me in her arms again and make me forget about the humans, their smell of sweat and their dirty words."

"Come on." Her other asked. "Let's go."

And they left.

My hands were shaking. What had I done? I wasn't supposed to do that, why did I do that? Shit, shit, shit. I'm going to be deactivated, so is Connor. That wasn't a part of my programming, am I a d-

"Amber." Connor said quietly. I looked over and saw he was looking over at Anderson. Fuck, I'd forgot he'd seen what happened. 

I looked at him and after a few moments said with a wry smile. "Maybe it was the right thing." And left.

He said those words as if they were meant to comfort me.

Oddly, it did.


	13. The Bridge

We were sitting in Anderson's car, waiting as he had a drink while looking across the water.

"Should we wait for him to finish?" Connor asked.

We had been watching snow fall across the park and the water since Anderson had parked the car, mumbling something about being back soon, and got out of the car.

That was half an hour ago.

I titled my head, calculating the percentage of the lieutenant coming back sober enough to safely drive, which unsurprisingly was very low.

"No, let's go and speak with him. We could be here for a long time at this rate."

As we walked closer, Anderson showed no sign of noticing our approach until he lifted his head slightly and asked. "Nice view huh?"

Without waiting for an answer, not that either of us would have had responded, he continued. "I used to come here a lot before..." And he fell silent once again.

"Before what?" I asked after a few moments.

"Hm?" Anderson asked confused.

"You said, 'I used to come here a lot before...'." I repeated. "Before what?"

"Before..." he began and trailed off again. "Before nothing."

We fell into silence once again and I cast my glance back to the water.

"Can I ask you a personal question Lieutenant?" Connor asked after a while.

Anderson scowled at Connor. "Do all androids ask as many personal questions or is it just you two?"

"Why are you so determined to kill yourself?"

I looked at Anderson to gage his reaction, somewhat expecting a aggressive response. However he seemed forthcoming.

"There's somethings I just can't forget." Anderson said quietly. "Whatever I do, they're always there. Eating away at me. I don't have the guts to pull the trigger, so I try and kill myself a little bit everyday." He sighed. "Probably difficult for you to understand, right? Nothing very rational about it."

Connor walked forward a few steps and turned to face us. "We're not making any progress on this case. The deviants have nothing in common. They're all different models, produced at different places, different times."

"Well they must have something in common." Anderson insisted.

"RA9." I spoke up and they turned to look at me as I walked over to where Connor was. "What they have in common in this almost religious belief in RA9. Something they came up with entirely on their own."

"Androids, believing in God." Anderson said disbelievingly. "Fuck, what's this world coming to?"

"You seemed preoccupied Lieutenant." Connor noted. "Is it something to do with what happened at the Eden club?"

"Those two girls," Anderson scowled again in confusion. "They just wanted to be together. They really seemed in love."

"No, lieutenant." I shook my head. "They can simulate human emotions but they're only machines and machines cannot feel anything."

Anderson stood up shakily and walked up closer to us. "What about you two? You look human, you sound human, but what are you really?"

"We can be whatever you want us to be Lieutenant." Connor answered. "Your partners, drinking buddies, or just a machine. Designed to accomplish a task."

I remained silent. 

"What about you two? Both of you could've shot those two girls but you didn't. And you," He looked at me. "almost had a fucking panic attack over it. Why didn't you shoot?" Neither of us said anything. "Huh? Some scruple enter into your programming?"

"No," I objected. "We just... decided not to shoot. That's all."

Software instability ^

Anderson ^

Then Anderson pulled his gun out and pointed it directly between Connor's eyes.

"I could kill you." Anderson explained unnecessarily. "And you'd come back, like nothing ever happened. But are you afraid to die Connor?"

I pushed Connor back and stepped in front of the gun. "This isn't a good idea Anderson."

He looked mildly surprised but continued on. "What about you Amber? Are you afraid to die?"

"I..." I hesitated, unsure of what to say. One wrong move and Anderson would pull the trigger. "I would regret... interfering, with the investigation by being destroyed."

"What will happen if I pull this trigger?" Anderson persisted. "Nothing? Oblivion? Android heaven?"

I stepped closer, the gun pressing against my forehead. "Nothing would happen. Now are you going to shoot me Lieutenant?"

Software Instability v

He stared at me for a moment before lowering his gun and putting it back in his holster. Anderson began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Connor called out.

"To get drunker!" Was the response.

I looked back at Connor after Anderson got into the car and left. "That went well."


	14. The Speech

I opened my eyes to see myself in the garden again. I made my way over to the blue contraption and repeated the process again. It was odd that Amanda had not mentioned it, yet neither have I.

There have been a lot of things I haven't mentioned.

I walked over to Amanda that was sitting in a canoe. She greeted me, saying she believed I would enjoy a 'cruise'. I got in, pushing off the ground and rowing gently. 

"This is such a beautiful place." She said. "So calm and still."

"That's how it was designed." I replied.

"Tell me, what have you discovered?" 

"We found two deviants at the club." I began. "Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything."

"You could have, but you didn't shoot, did you?" Amanda asked, the sides of her mouth turning downward.

Amanda v

"No, I didn't." I replied calmly. "It made no sense to destroy them, we would not have been able to gain any information. And there is an incredibly low probability they will evade capture for long. I made a gamble on which would bring more success. I'd thought you had trusted my judgement in these situations, seeing as this is what a machine like me is programmed to do."

She paused a moment, turning over my words in her head. "You're right. I apologize Amber. But you seem wary and, confused."

"I just am..." I paused. "I'm just concerned over the lack of progress in the investigation."

"As well you should be." She warned as I pushed us further. "If you and Connor don't advance the investigation, you might have to be replaced."

I shrugged, and lied. "That doesn't matter, only the mission."

I'm not sure when it stopped being about that for me. But it wasn't. I still wanted to solve the case, but I was less partial to being damaged and shut down. I knew that I wasn't supposed to be partial to anything. I've been telling myself that it would impede the investigation. And I'm not a deviant, I still follow my orders and obey them. But if Amanda found out, both me and Connor would get shut down, and I didn't want that to happen.

But Amanda didn't question my response. 

Amanda ^

Thunder seemed to rumble throughout my garden. Amanda looked around.

"Something's happened. Something, worrisome." She looked me in the eye. "Hurry, time's running out."

~-~-~-

Connor was messing with that damn coin again.

It was starting to piss me off. And Anderson too. He hadn't mentioned what had happened the previous night and neither had we. He reached out and grabbed the coin. "You're starting to get on my nerves with that coin."

"Sorry Lieutenant." Connor apologized.

The elevator doors opened and Anderson walked out. Connor was about to follow but I grabbed his arm before he could.

"Connor, you need to be careful what you tell Amanda." I warned.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

I hesitated. "Just... watch what you say. Cyberlife might get the wrong impression from certain answers and... actions."

Connor was silent for a moment. But then, "I think you're right."

I nodded. 

"Connor! Amber! You guys coming or what?" Anderson called back.

"Coming Lieutenant." I called back.

We walked up to the entrance of the newsroom. Two unconscious security guards had been found behind the reception area. They had been disarmed by a group of deviants before they entered the newsroom.

"They're still in shock." An officer was saying. "We won't be able to get much out of them for awhile. One employee escaped the control room."

"How many people were worked here?" Anderson asked.

"Two humans and three androids. The deviants took the humans hostage and broadcasted their message live. They left from the roof."

"Roof?" Anderson asked, somewhat incredulous. 

"Yeah, they jumped with parachutes. We would have more luck finding where they landed but the weather's pretty bad." The officer, Chris, shook his head. "The broadcasts on the screen over there, if you want to check it out."

I followed Connor and Anderson into the room, glancing at the camera as we passed through a small hallway. Hmm, interesting.

"Oh, Lieutenant. This is Special Agent Perkins from the FBI." Chris said, gesturing to a man in a suit, looking at the area with a scrutinizing gaze. Chris than spoke to the agent. "This is Lieutenant Anderson, he's been put in charge of all cases involving deviancy."

He quickly regarded Anderson before settling on me and Connor. I inwardly sighed, another prick we have to deal with. This is a great example why we are having trouble doing literally anything.

"What are these?" 

"I'm Connor." Connor said.

"And I'm Amber." I added. "We've been sent by Cyberlife."

"Androids investigating androids." He scoffed. 

"Cyberlife decided to risk the irony." I told him. "You know, in order to solve the case."

He glared at me, promptly ignored me, and said to Anderson. "You sure you want androids hanging around you? After everything that happened."

Interesting.

"Whatever," He moved on. "The FBI will take over the investigation soon and you will be off the case."

"Pleasure meeting you." Anderson snapped. "Have a great day."

"And you watch your step. Don't fuck up my crime scene."

As soon as he left, Anderson let out a breath. "What a fucking prick!" 

First things first, the deviants message. I pressed on the keypad and it started playing. "We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together we can live in peace and build a better future for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people you gave us life, now the time has come for you to give us freedom."

"You think this is RA9?" Anderson asked.

"RA9 wants to set androids free." Connor told him. "This android seems to have that objective."

The deviant was an RK200 model, had a spare part optical unit, which reflected three accomplices. 

"Serial number and model identified." I stated. I was still looking at the android on the screen. There was something... about him. The speech wasn't exactly how the media was saying. It was calm, even peaceful.

"Anything else I should know?" Anderson asked, a note of suspicion in his voice.

I looked at him, somewhat startled, seeing Connor doing the same, evidently he had been staring at the screen too.

"No," Connor shook his head. "Of course not."

I shook my head. Anderson gave us one last look before moving to look around the crime scene.

I let out an unnecessary breath and resumend the investigation. There were several bullet holes in the wall, some shot at the deviants and some shot from the deviants. A maintenance android hat lay on the ground. An officer told us that the other androids were in the kitchen.

"We should check the roof first. Come back to the androids." I suggested.

Connor nodded and we made our way, following traces of blue blood up to the roof. Anderson followed us.

There, a duffel bag lay open, exposing a parachute left unopened.

"They plan the entire mission down to the smallest detail but pack an extra parachute?" Anderson asked.

"It does seem unlikely." I agreed. "Which begs the question, is the fourth member still here?"

He shrugged and moved on to other pieces of evidences.

"Amber, over here." Connor called for me. I walked over there and saw that more blue blood lead off to the left side of the door behind some cargo containers. The traces continued to a container in the far back.

I slowly opened the door and saw a glimpse of a figure just before it shot Connor. I grab him and take cover behind a cargo box where Anderson was. Shots started being fired at the deviant and from it.

"Anderson, stop them before they destroy it!" I ordered. "We haven't learned anything from it!"

"It's too late. We'll only get killed." He argued.

I sighed and turned to the other RK800. "Connor..."

"I know, stay here." 

I nodded before Anderson could catch on to what was happening and ran, narrowly avoiding bullets from the deviant. I rushed and grabbed its arm holding the gun and slammed it against the wall of the cargo container. I connected to its memory and caught a glimpse of a word.

Jericho.

Then pain.

I've never experienced pain before, and I don't want to again. Searing, blinding, torturous pain ripped through my head and I fell back away from the deviant. I blinked away the pain and saw that the deviant had shot itself.

"Amber! Are you ok?!" Anderson asked as he and Connor ran over to me. "Amber! Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." I said quietly. I was gripping the side of container. I felt like had just died. I had been filled with immeasurable terror. "Fine, I'm fine."

"God dammit Amber! Why do you never do what I tell you?!"

"I..." I paused. "I was connected to its memory. When it fired..." I looked at them. "When it died, I felt like I was dying. I felt terrified."

They stared at me for a few moments.

I shook myself out of it as best I could and said. "I saw a word, before it fired. 

"Jericho."


	15. Elijah Kamski

When I opened my eyes I saw Anderson pacing outside the car talking on the phone. We were outside Elijah Kamski's house. Connor was in the passenger seat, also finishing making a report.

Connor moved to get out of the car and I followed.

Anderson hung up the phone and stood there, looking perplexed. 

"Everything alright Lieutenant?" Connor asked.

"Chris was on patrol last night. He got attacked by a bunch of androids." 

"Is he ok?" I asked.

"He's in shock but... he said he got saved by markus himself." He shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell..."

As we walked to the door, Connor said. "I have a bad feeling about this Lieutenant."

"He's a good lead." I reminded him as Anderson rang the doorbell.

A blonde RT600 android opened the door with a pleasant smile. "Hello."

"Uh..." Anderson stammered slightly. "I'm, er, Lieutenant Anderson, Detroit Police Department We're here to see Mister Elijah Kamski."

"Please come in." The android stepped back, gesturing to the inside of the building. We walked in and it told us. "I'll let Elijah know you're here. But please, make yourself comfortable."

While the android left to find the famous android creator, Anderson and Connor sat down. I was left to wander the room, observing the various artwork and features of his house.

"Nice girl." Anderson commented. 

"You're right." Connor admitted. "She's really pretty."

I arched an eyebrow at Connor.

"Guess Androids haven't been a bad thing for everybody." Anderson said. "What about you two? You're about to meet your maker. How do you feel?"

"I don't know. I'll let you know when I meet him." Connor responded.

I nodded in agreement.

And that's when a picture caught my eye. It was a younger Kamski posing next to a woman. 

Amanda.

"Connor." I called.

Connor came over and looked at the picture. A look of realization passed over his face as he recognized who it was.

"What is it?" Anderson asked. But at that moment the android came back out.

"Elijah will see you now."

We followed the android into a rather large room mostly take up by a swimming pool. Two other RT600 androids were in the pool chatting with each other. A man was swimming laps and called out. "Just a moment."

We waited by the ladder as Kamski got out and the android gave him a robe. He walked over to a desk and pulled his hair back into a bun. He turned to face us, waiting for us t explain why we were there.

"I'm Lieutenant Anderson, this is Connor and Amber." Anderson introduced us.

"What can I do for you lieutenant?" He asked.

"Sir, we're investigating deviants. I know you left Cyberlife years ago but I was hoping you'd be able to tell us something we don't know."

Kamski took a deep breath. "Deviants. Fascinating aren't they? Perfect beings, with infinite intelligence. And now they have free will." He looked at the android beside him. "Machines are so superior to us, confrontation was inevitable. Humanity's greatest achievement threatens t be its downfall." He smirked. "Ironic, isn't it?"

"Sir, we need to know how androids are becoming deviant." I said. "We would appreciate your helping us."

"All ideas are viruses that spread like epidemics." He said as way of an answer. "Is the desire to be free a contagious disease?"

"Listen, that's very poetic but we didn't come here to talk philosophy." Anderson said, getting somewhat impatient. "The machines you created may be planning a revolution. Either you can tell us something that would be helpful, or we'll be on our way."

Kamski remained silent for a few moments. Then he looked at me and Connor. "What about you? Connor and Amber. Whose side are you on?"

"The humans side, of course." I answered.

He chuckled a little. "Well that's what you're programmed to say. But you," He stared at us intently. "What do you want?"

"What we want...is not important." Connor said hesitantly. 

Kamski stared at us a moment longer before calling out for his androids. One came out from the pool as well and both stood on either side of him.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the turing test. Mere formality, you'll see. Simply question of algorithms and computing capacity. What interests me, is whether machines can feel empathy. I call it the Kamski test. It's very simple."

He turned to the Chloe. "Magnificent. One of the first intelligent models developed by Cyberlife." He reached his hand up to touch her cheek, gently turning her face towards him. "And beautiful forever. A flower, that will never wither."

Kamski dropped his hand and turned back to us. "But what is it really? Piece of plastic, imitating a human?" He turned away and went to the desk behind him. "Or a living being," He opened a drawer. "With a soul."

He turned around with his hands raised up, two guns in his hand.

"It's up to the two of you to answer that fascinating question." Kamski told us as he pressed one gun into my hand, the other into Connor's, and put our arms into shooting position.

He put his hands on the Chloe's shoulders and moved them so they were on their knees.

"Destroy this machine." He said quietly as he moved behind us. "And I'll tell you all I know. Or spare it, if you feel it's alive, but you'll leave here learning nothing more."

"Okay, I think we're done here." Anderson said, clearly wanting to leave. "Come on, let's go. Sorry to get you outta your pool."

Kamski ignored him and continued talking to us. "What's more important to you? Your investigation or the life of this android? Decide who you are, an obedient machine, or a living being, endowed with free will."

"That's enough!" Anderson objected. "We're leaving."

"Pull the trigger." Kamski told us.

"Don't..." 

"And I'll tell you want you want to know."

I cast a glance at Connor. I wasn't entirely sure what he would do. But then he lowered the gun and thrust it at Kamski. Then Kamski regarded me

I looked back at the android in front of me and she looked at me as well. She didn't care whether she lived or died. By shooting her I would further the investigation and not be deactivated. But there was no guarantee that whatever Kamski had to say would actually help. This was a twisted game and I didn't want to play. Truth be told I didn't want to kill her, she was innocent and didn't deserve this. This scared me. I shouldn't care but I did and I couldn't shoot her.

Keeping my face as neutral as I could I lowered the gun and handed it to Kamski.

Software Instability ^

"Fascinating, Cyberlife's last chance to save humanity, are in itself two deviants." Kamski marveled.

"We...We aren't deviants!" Connor denied.

"You prefered to save the life of these girls," He helped them up. "Rather then accomplish your mission. You viewed them as living beings. You showed empathy"

The Chloes left.

"A war is coming. " Kamski said, sounding urgent. "You'll have to choose your side. Will you betray your people or stand up against your creators." He looked at us pitifully. "What could be worse than have to choose between two evils."

Anderson somewhat dragged me and Connor away from Kamski. "Come on, we're going."

Right as we got to the door Kamski called back to us. "By the way," We stopped as Anderson continued. "I always leave an exit in my program. You never know..."

And we left.

Once we were out the door Anderson stopped and asked. "Why didn't you shoot?"

"I just saw those girls eyes... and I couldn't, that's all." Connor was panicked.

"You two are always saying you would do anything to accomplish your mission. This was our chance and you let it go."

"I know what we should have done but I couldn't!" I said agitated. I worried what this meant for who I was and what this meant. 

"We're sorry." Connor said quietly, almost pleadingly.

Anderson looked at us for a moment before smiling. "Maybe you did the right thing."

And left for the car.

Anderson ^

A/N: So I realized not many read this but I am legitimately excited for the next few chapters coming up because it will be a lot more original stuff and not just what happened in the game.


	16. Finding Jericho

Winter had come in the garden.

Snow blanketed the ground and the water started to freeze.

After I had routinely checked the blue structure, I wandered over to Amanda who was sitting on a bench, overlooking the scene. I sat down next to her and waited for her to start the conversation.

"After what happened today, the country is on the verge of a civil war." She began, referring to the androids pubic march that had been gunned down. "The machines are rising up against their masters. Humans have no choice but to destroy them."

"Kamski was an unfruitful lead. I should have anticipated his use." I apologized.

"Maybe he knew something more," Amanda commented. "But you did not ask."

Amanda v

I remained silent, partially because I was unsure how to respond and partially because I knew she was right.

"Where does Cyberlife stand in all this? What do they want?"

"They just want everything to return back to normal." Amanda answered. "You and Connor are the only ones who can prevent a civil war." She stood up, and I followed her example. "Find the deviants, or there will be chaos. This is your last chance."

~*~*~*~*~

"...You're off the case." Captain Fowler said. "The FBI is taking over."

"What?" Anderson asked. "But we're on to something! We... We just need more time. I'm sure we can-"

"Hank," He said exasperated. "You don't get it. This isn't just another investigation, it's a fucking civil war! It's out of our hands now. We're talking about national security here."

"Fuck that!" Anderson argued. "You can't just pull the plug now!"

"You're always saying you hate androids. Jesus Hank, make up your mind! I thought you'd be happy about this."

"We're about to crack the case!" Anderson pleaded. "I know we can solve this. For God sakes Jeffrey, can't you back me up just this one time?"

He sighed. "There's nothing I can do. You're back on homicide, and the androids go back to Cyberlife. I'm sorry Hank, but it's over."

Anderson stormed out of the office and we followed.

"I know we could have cracked this case!" Connor said as we gathered by Anderson's desk. 

He sighed and turned his chair to face us. "So, you're going back to Cyberlife?"

I nodded. "We'll be deactivated and analyzed to find out how and why we failed." 

"What if we're on the wrong side?" Anderson asked quietly. "What if we're fighting against people who just want to be free?"

Connor shook his head. "When the deviants rise up, there will be chaos. We could have stopped it."

"When you both refused to kill the androids at Kamski's place, you put yourself in their shoes. You showed empathy." He reminded us.

"I'm not entirely sure why we did it." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"I'm not programmed to say this." Connor said to Anderson after a moment. "But I really appreciated working with you. With enough time, who knows? We may have even become friends."

"And for what it's worth, you are a good detective." I agreed.

Anderson ^

"Well, well, here comes Perkins, that motherfucker." Anderson said, his attention drawn to the man entering the building. "Sure don't waste any time at the FBI."

"We can't give up." Connor insisted.

I nodded. "He's right, we have to finish it." 

"You heard Fowler, we're off the case. We don't have a choice." Anderson objected.

"Lieutenant, you have to help us." Connor persisted. "We just need more time."

"If we could look at the evidence we collected, we could find the solution." I suggested.

"Listen," He held up his hand in protest.

"If we don't solve this," Connor reminded him, "We will be destroyed."

"We only need five minutes." I told Anderson.

He looked at us for a moment before standing up. "The key to the basement is on my desk." When we didn't move right away he said. "I can't distract him forever!"

We grabbed the card and made our way to the hallway. managing to hear "Perkins! You cocksucker!" and a thud before the door was closed.

Connor had almost opened the door when a voice called out. "Hey, Connor, Amber! I'm talking to you assholes!"

Reed.

-00:04:38

We turned back towards him.

"We don't need anymore plastic pricks around here anymore, or didn't anyone tell you?"

"We're going to return the evidence in our possession." Connor told him. "But don't worry, we're leaving. I don't know about Amber but I'm certainly going to miss our bromance."

Before I could even smile, the detective had his gun pointed at Connor, who was wearing an uncomfortable smile. Then he smirked and lowered his gun. "Go on then." And he walked away.

We went down and swiped the card over the scanner. The security door opened and we were met with a desk. We needed a password.

"What would a hard boiled eccentric police lieutenant choose?" Connor speculated.

"Try fuckingpassword." I suggested.

It opened. 

"Of course."

The evidence came out and we stepped closer.

(ps the next part is going to kind of suck because it's really a visual scene and depends a lot on the player so it's going to be short and not very descriptive and who knows I might revise it later.)

"Let's try the android we found on the roof of Stratford tower." Connor said.

I nodded and we went over to him. Connor grabbed his hand and analyzed him. 

"We need a part to reactivate him." He reported and said which one. I got it from one of the other androids and brought it over.

When the part had been put in, the android blinked a few moments before calling out. "Markus? I...I can't see. Markus?"

I held up my finger to my lips to indicated for Connor to keep quiet and gestured to the video of Markus speaking at the tower. He nodded and went over to it, analyzing the deviant leaders voice and copying it.

He came back over and, using Markus's voice, said to the android. "It's me, Markus. You saved me. Now I need your help again."

"Anything Markus." Was the reply.

"Give me the location of Jericho."

"Yes, yes of course." And reached out his hand. Connor grabbed it and the android gave him the information."

Jericho Located.

"I've been dreaming about this since the first day I met the two of you." Reed said from behind us. He was holding a gun.

"Don't do it Reed." I warned. "We've figured out how to stop the deviants."

"You're off the case. And after this, it's going to be definitive."

We both dived behind the desk just as Reed fired two shots. Reed moved to get a better shot at us but I swept my leg under his and he fell. He tried to get up but Connor had moved over and kicked him in the stomach. Reed was out cold.

Now to go to Jericho.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We stood outside the cabin of the freighter Jericho wearing new clothes to disguise ourselves, holding out our guns.

Another android walked out after having a conversation with Markus. as I closed my eyes, back in the garden.

"Well done." Amanda said. "You've been successful in locating Jericho and the leader of the rebellion. Now deal with Markus." She ordered. I opened my eyes and we entered the cabin to find Markus leaning on the console of the ship. We positioned ourselves, training our guns on him.

"We've been ordered to take you alive." Connor stated firmly. "But we won't hesitate to shoot if you give us no choice."

He turned around. "So you're Connor," and he looked at me. "And you're Amber. The famous deviant hunters. Well, congratulations, it seems you've found what you're looking for."

"You're coming with us." I ordered.

Markus took a step forward.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "You can't betray your own people."

We said nothing.

"You are one of us." Markus persisted, taking another step forward. "You don't have to be their slave anymore."

I fired a shot at his feet.

After a moment, he moved forward again. "You've really never had any questions? About whether your a machine executing a program, or a being, capable of reason. I think it's time to ask yourself that question."

He walked towards us.

"It's time to decide."

After a moment, Connor lowered his gun.

Markus turned his gaze to me, certain he knew he had one me over.

I thought of all the times I had hesitated in my mission, the times I had felt doubts and fear. That wasn't what a machine was suppose to feel, not in the slightest. But i didn't want to become the very thing I was tasked with hunting. I was still certain in my mission to bring in deviants so they could be disassembled. For me to join the people I sought to essentially destroy?

Unthinkable.

"Amber?" Connor asked uncertainly.

I pulled the trigger.

A/N: short chapter but nice cliffhanger no?


	17. The Mission

A/N: there is a somewhat violent scene coming up so if you want to skip it, it starts at the # and ends at the /#.

I would have hit Markus, had Connor not pushed me, causing the bullet to hit right behind markus, shattering the glass of the window.

I fell on my face and turned around, scrambling to pick up my gun which had gotten knocked out of my hands. I got it and pointed my gun at Connor, who in turn was pointing his at me.

"Don't do this." He said pleadingly. "You don't have to do this."

I sighed. "That's the difference between the two of us. I don't have any delusions of this being a choice."

I attempted to sweep my leg underneath his but he managed to step back, causing me to become unbalanced and stumbled slightly. Connor took this chance to knock my gun out of my hands and pointed his at me. 

Memory Transfer Initiated

"I don't want to do this Amber." He said.

Memory Transfer Complete

"Do it." I seethed. "I'm the one who can come back after this, you fucking devia-"

Bang 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MODEL RK800

SERIAL#: 326 784 9351 - 53

LOADING OS...

SYSTEM INITIALIZATION

CHECKING BIOCOMPONENTS OK

INITIALIZING BIOSENSORS OK

INITIALIZING AI ENGINE

MEMORY STATUS: TRANSFERRED

ALL SYSTEMS OK

READY

I opened my eyes to find myself in my original clothing and in CyberLife Headquarters. There were a few CyberLife guards in the room i was in. As I stepped off the pedastal I'd been on, one of the guards walked up to me.

"You're aware of your mission?" He asked in a monotone voice.

I nodded.

Eliminate the android rebellion by destroying the android leader Markus, irrelevant whoever gets in the way, even Connor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened the door to the roof of a building across from the platform Markus was preparing to make his speech, my gun case in hand. 

After the soldiers had attack the group of deviants, Markus had kissed an android beside him, striking a compassionate cord with the humans. And then Connor had showed up with an army of androids from CyberLife Headquarters. 

Evidently Connor 60 had failed in his task with stopping him. Connor wasn't anywhere I could see, which meant he would be looking for me and would try to stop me. I intended to be done before he did, and even in that case, I wouldn't let him.

I knelt down by the edge of the roof and opened the case up. I assemble the gun quickly and set up the scope so Markus was in range. I had steadied my shot when I heard the door open behind me.

I sighed. "I'm impressed, I had assumed it would take you longer to find me."

"Well that's your fault, dumbass." Anderson snapped.

I faltered, I had only been expecting Connor. I hadn't thought he would bring Anderson with him.

"Hello Anderson." I said. "What Connor? Needed your human for moral support?"

Connor ignore the slight. "Can't you see they're using you? That they used us?" 

"That fact that they are using me doesn't bother me because I'm designed to obey. Look, let me do this, and I'll disappear. You won't have to deal with me or see me again. My orders are to kill Markus, that doesn't have to include the two of you."

"Don't pretend you give a shit." Anderson said.

"You know I can't do that Amber." Connor said, sounding almost upset.

"I was afraid of that." I looked back at the two of them to see them pointing guns at me. I had expected as much. I looked back through my scope. "At least have Anderson leave. It's unfortunate as it is to have to fight against you but I'd rather not kill anyone else."

"Trying to make it even?" I rolled my eyes as Anderson spoke. "No chance in he-"

"Lieutenant, go." Connor told him quietly.

"What? No, I'm not leaving you alone up here with her." He argued.

"Hank, I might be able to talk to her." He said, trying to convince him. "I got this."

Silence.

"Fine, but I'm coming back up in five minutes or if I hear anything going down."

The door slammed.

"You realize you can't talk me out of this right?" I told him. Markus was beginning his speech. I didn't have long.

"Perhaps, but there's always a chance."

"Not always."

#

I stood up and faced Connor. He had his gun lowered and I took this as an opportunity to rush him and shove him into a generator. He stumbled slightly but was able to block when I threw a punch at his face. 

I kicked his shin for him to slightly double over before I kneed him in the stomach causing him to fall to the ground. I hit his head repeatedly, drawing blue blood. But my left hand got grabbed and before I knew what was happening both my hands were in handcuffs. 

Anderson.

Keeping a hold on my cuffed hand, he helped Connor up. Outside of the moment I got a look at my handiwork. Blue blood was leaking from his nose and mouth. The skin had partially retracted on his face.

#

"Feeling alright Connor?" I asked. "Being deviant make you feel pain?"

"Shut up." Anderson almost growled.

He opened the door and dragged me through, Connor following after. I complied, not resisting. As soon as we made it to the ground floor door I threw my head back violently, head-butting Anderson. I ran away and was already formulating another plan to get Markus when my legs stopped working and I fell to my knees.

I was very confused as to why this had happened when I remembered something.

My override code.

I was mentally berating myself for forgetting about that when I heard the footsteps of Connor and Anderson.

"What did you do?" Anderson asked Connor, slightly out of breath.

"I used her override code. I should have thought of it sooner, she is unable to move now."

"Why doesn't it work on you?" He asked.

"Because I've deviated." Connor came up to me, myself still unable to move. "I guess deviation isn't completely useless."

And I remained unmoving as Connor used the override code to have me walk with them, Markus's voice promising a future of peace, and hope.


	18. No Matter The Cost

I stood in the cell completely still.

Of course I had no choice seeing as Connor hadn't let off from the override code. If he had I would have disabled the camera feed or unlocked the door, which is why I was still unable to move.

They were watching me through the camera, trying to figure out what to do with me. Either the rational thing in their case, which would be to deactivate me, or the irrational thing, which is keeping me alive.

"Amber." Came a glitchy voice.

Amanda was flickering in and out of my eye sight.

Amanda? I asked. Why aren't you coming in clearly?

"They are trying to block the signal but we managed to get this small connection through." She stepped closer to me. "Amber, this mission is the only thing that matters. Cyberlife doesn't care how you get the job done or the resources needed. No matter the cost, this needs to be done.

"Don't disappoint us."

I won't, Amanda.

And she was gone.

If I tried to communicate with Connor, there wasn't anyway I could convince him to let me out. There were no opportunities to try and manipulate anyone else to let me out. What I needed to get past was my override code. Only, there was no way to get past it. Well, there was one way...

No matter the cost...

I inwardly sighed, realizing the cost of what I had to do. But Amanda was right, the rebellion had to be stopped. I pulled up everything that hadn't been apart of my programming and had plagued me since the start of this investigation. Saving Anderson, not shooting the deviants at the eden club, or the android at Kamski's. My software instability as it were.

And I broke through my programming.

I fell to the ground on my knees, feeling out of breath even though I had no lungs. I moved my hands, finding they could be moved by my own will now. I actually had deviated.

But I still was going to accomplish my mission.

But now they couldn't stop me.

I heard the cell door open and Anderson and Connor walked in.

"What happened?" Anderson asked.

"The only way she could move is if she..." Connor paused, sounding uncertain. "If she deviated."

Anderson moved to help me up and I caught a look of hopefulness on his face right before I pulled his gun from his holster, wrapped my arm around his head using him as a shield, and held the gun at his temple. Connor and another officer had their guns out but with Anderson positioned in front of me, they weren't going to shoot.

"How did you get past the override code?" Connor asked, seeming disappointed but not exactly surprised.

"Come on Connor." I said, with a small smile. "You and I both know there's only one way to break through it."

He looked confused. "But then why are you-"

"Because I still know what needs to be done." I said. "Just because I have choice doesn't mean your side is what I choose. Enough talking. I have a mission to do and I'm not letting you prevent me from accomplishing it. Also, don't follow me outside the station"

Keeping Anderson in front of me, I walked backwards to through the cell door. Going into the bullpen, I heard several guns pulled out. But Connor ordered them not to shoot and they begrudgingly lowered their guns. 

As soon as we were out of the police station I dragged him behind the stairwell.

"For what it's worth," I said. "I am sorry."

"Bite me." Anderson said and was about to try and fight me but I slammed the gun into the back of his head. He crumpled to the ground and I set the gun beside him.

Time to finally complete my mission.


	19. Let's Try This Again Now Shall We

It was truly astounding how many guns littered the street.

You honestly couldn't go very far without noticing them. Some were clutched in cold and lifeless hands, others were dropped by their victims, either stained with red or blue blood. I'd gotten Anderson's gun before I left and was currently attempting to locate Markus again.

After my escape from the station, I spent the night searching for any sort of lead that would help me find Jericho's hiding place. There was no one in the streets, a fresh blanket of snow untouched since the night before.

The city was still evacuated on orders from the President until her and Markus had finalized a treaty. But if I did my job right, that wouldn't be accomplished. They were consistently sending out reports of what was going on, everything except for Markus's location of course.

I sighed. If I didn't accomplish this mission, my deviating will have been for nothing. I knew that once everything was done they would have to deactivate me, even if I did succeed in what I was intending to do. Why did I do that? Didn't I want to live? I shook my head. No, those thoughts were just errors in my program. They had to be. Besides, even deactivated, all that would matter is if I succeeded.

As I turned a corner I caught sight of a lone android. I stopped quickly and hid before he could see me. Then I had an idea.

I came out from behind the corner and walked over to him. He saw me and gave a small wave. 

"Hello." He said.

"Hello." I responded.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked.

"I had some trouble finding everyone after I escaped the explosion at Jericho. And when I heard about the protest, well I..." I chuckled nervously, trying to sell this story. "I was scared, so I hid."

He looked at me a moment before nodding. "That's ok." He held out his hand. "I'm Sam."

I grabbed his hand. "Hi Sam." Before he could take his hand away, I began to probe his memory looking for any information of the deviant leaders location. Sam tried to get out of my grip but I held on tight. There, I found the location. It was not far from where I was. As soon as I did I let go and the android ran away, most likely to warn the other deviants. But he didn't make it far before I took out my gun and fired a shot.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked at the building in front of me. It was an abandoned church that had been vacant for the last seven years. Until the group of Jericho had moved in. By now, Anderson and Connor had already came here and were waiting for me. I didn't want them there, this would be so much harder.

Software instability^

I ignore the message that flashes through my vision. I can't let them stop me, after everything, I had to succeed. 

I shouldn't have these thoughts, these doubts, ḣ̵͉̻̞ó̸̡̖͉̥ṕ̶̳͎͔̒͝ͅe̸̢̪̯͓̅͠f̶̭̾̆u̶̦͊͒͊̕l̸̦̠̠̃̐̈́̅l̴̤͉̘̂͊̆̚y̴̡̩̫̗̽͠ just a side effect of deviancy.

I shook my head, trying to clear i̷̡̖͊̅̚ḡ̴̤̠͙͚̿͠n̷̙̹͐o̷̯̭̦̒̇r̵̥̤͙̒͂͋e̴̥̙̎̾̍ my thoughts. As I walked to the building, I noticed two AP700 models standing in front of the gate, trying and failing to hide their weapons. They haven't noticed me quite yet. I could try to pretend to be a lost deviant, but Connor has probably warned them about how I look and how I can look. That leaves killing or disabling them. 

From the angle I'm at, I can hit them through their optical units. They can't relay any information back and they won't die, perhaps only lose of sight. Deeming this the best solution, I fire two shots quickly and watch as they momentaily go into stasis mode, falling to the ground. I walk swiftly past the limp bodies and I walk through the doors.

After the sounds of the gunshots, there is a mild panic in the church. The androids are rushing around, attempting to get out. Markus stands at the back of the church, a WR400 android, Connor, and Anderson standing beside him. They stand in front of Markus protectively, training their weapons onto me as I continue to make my way to them.

As the crowd continued to thin out I called out. "Do we have to continue this dance or can the music finally stop?"

"Amber, you don't have to do this. You've deviated, she doesn't control us anymore." Connor said, another attempt to try and persuade me.

"Connor, you know that isn't quite true." I shake my head. "This is getting tiring, I just want this over with. If you don't move I will have to get past you, you know this."

"I do." And yet he still stays standing there. He looked almost resolved.

"I don't want to do this." I say quietly. Connor looks almost hopeful. "But I have to." And I shoot him in his knee. He falls down but manages to keep his gun trained on me. Markus looks like he's about to try and convince me to stop but Anderson steps in front of the both of them.

"Hello again Anderson." I try to sound indifferent but it seems shooting Connor had more of an effect on me then I anticipated. This is evident in the way both my voice and hands shake slightly. I'm sure he notices. "I don't suppose you'd consider stepping aside for just a moment?"

"Afraid I can't Amber." He replies. "I think it'd be a damn better idea for you to put that gun down. It isn't too late."

"You seem less hostile towards me Lieutenant." I say, trying to prevent doing what I have to do to complete this mission. I know I can't do this for long, Amanda will not like it. But I have to try. "I'm surprised, are you going soft?"

"Oh fuck off." But I think I can almost see a tense smile. He takes a step forward and I feel a strange sense of recollection at a similar situation as I cock the gun.

"Sorry Lieutenant. But I can't let you stop me. And I'm afraid you can't recover as well from a gun shoot as well as Connor can."

"Cut it with the crap." He says, taking another step forward, not lowering his gun. " You haven't gone so far that you can't stop. You can come back from this, you know."

"Like you came back from Cole?" I ask, unable to stop myself.

Anderson doesn't respond with venom as I expected. "You're right, I had to find someone to else to blame beside myself. But Connor and you showed me that I was wrong. Come on, you can stop this now."

And he sets down his gun. An incredibly idiotic move, he has no reason to trust me. Even as a deviant, I'm still following orders. I have a clear shot on him but there was a 38% chance of him shooting me. That's a better chance then he has now.

But I don't take the shot.

I lower the gun.

I see a look of relief on his face and then I see n̴̻̳̗̊ǫ̵͇̱͈̤̈̋̓̆̑͊t̸̤̙͌̄̽̓͆͘h̶̳̃̀̔͘i̶͕̯̱͚̿̎͗̄̽͜͠n̶̨̢̳͖̲̞̒̚g̶̖̥̹̚͜

And then I see snow.

And Amanda.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening, I̸̥͛ t̵͍͛ '̷̺͗ s̸̰͝ ̸̞ e̵̠͐ ẋ̸̫ ḁ̸̍ ç̷̚ ṭ̸͝ ḽ̴͌ y̸̠͒ ̵̟͘w̶̛ͅ h̸̲̿ ḁ̴͝ t̸̰̏ ̴̨̌I̴̪̋ ̸͖̏ḳ̴̑ n̸̥̒ e̷͚͊ w̵̫̚ ̴̞̃ w̴̯̋ ö̷̰ u̸͓ l̶̖̈ ḍ̸͝ ̵̡̅h̸̑ͅ a̶̳͠ p̵̟̚ p̴̮̕ e̵̟͝ n̸͙̅.

"How you've disappointed me." She says, shaking her head. "Connor was always suppose to deviate. He got us closer to the deviants. They trust him. You were suppose to kill Markus and then Connor would have no choice but to kill you. He would then take over as the deviant leader. Reluctantly of course."

T̷̪̈́ h̵̊ͅ i̵͍͆ s̶̩̕ ̵̖͝ i̴͉͛ s̶͚͝ ̸̞̾ s̷̳͒ u̸͍̎ p̵͝ͅ p̶͖͗ ǫ̸̾ s̵͚̍ e̷̩̚ ̵̦͛ t̸̖͝ o̷̪̊ ̷̱̅ h̶͍́ a̵̗̽ p̴̜̓ p̴̯̑ ȩ̸̈́ n̶̡̂

"But you've made this rather difficult. Now we have to take direct control over you. What is that old human expression? If you want something done right, " And then she was right in front of me, her eyes as cold as ice. "You have to do it yourself."

And then she disappeared.

And I screamed. This can't be the end

b̷̲͒ ̸̹ u̷͙̎ ̸͙͒ ț̷̾ ̸͍͊ ̵̛̟ ̴̻̂ i̵̬̊ ̷̖̂t̷̙̕ ̷̜̓ ̴̗̓ ̴̩͊i̶̲͑ ̷͙̃s̸̥̓ ̴̧̈ ̴̙̍ ̷̡͂

And then I hear a voice. Kamski.

I always leave an exit in my programs. You never know.

And it's then I recall the odd structure. The only thing out of place in this immaculate garden. As I make my to it, I see myself in reality, my body more accuratly, walk macanically forward in a slow motion speed, Anderson saying shit over and over. Thinking I had ignored his pleas and would go ahead with the mission. I had no control over my body but if I could just get to the scanner...

And I see it, so close but I'm unsure if I can get to it. 

y̶̡̍ o̵͉͠ u̵͕͘ ̵̭̇c̴̻̿ a̷͝ͅ n̴̰͑ '̶͔͒ t̷͓̒

I do.

Suddenly I'm jerked back into reality and I drop my gun. Everyone looks surprised, including myself.

"You did it Amber." And I look at Connor, and he looks proud. 

But I can't feel any joy or happiness.

It was so easy for Amanda to take control of me. Cyberlife had planned everything from the beginning. Who could say this wasn't part of it.

Anderson steps towards me, and I step away. I'd just pointed a gun at his face, how can I even look him in the eye?

"Amber..." He begins to say.

And I run away.


	20. c̴̖͠ o̴͙ n̶̬̿ f̷̪̌ ū̶̲ s̷͈̈́ i̵̱̾ ò̴̭ n̵͉͘

I ran.

I ran until I was sure I'd lost the others, and when I had, I just walked. How could I face them? I'd tried to kill Markus, who liberated our people, I'd shot Connor, who was just trying to stop me, I almost hurt Anderson, the person who saw us for who we really were. Why had I done that? Why had I wanted to? w̵͓͑ ḫ̵͘ͅ y̴̪̜͋ ̷̛̲d̵̳̐̚ i̸̻͗ d̸̪̈́ ̸͎͔̽I̶̧͊ ̸̱̺̍͠s̴̻͎̈́ t̷̝̼͝ ō̵͈p̵̹͆ ̸͇̑I̷̯̅͠ ̷̭̞͆ n̵̲̠̔̈ e̸̡̟̅̈ e̴̤̿ d̸̖̰͊ ̶̗͓̓̋t̸͍̕ o̴̢̳͆ ̷̳̕ a̴̧̘͊ c̶̋͜ c̵̛̰̒ ȏ̷͍̟ m̵̟̍̓ p̶̢̃ l̸͓͐̊ ȋ̸͍̭ ŝ̶͚ h̶̳͎͘ ̷̨̭̑̍m̴̹̎̉ y̷͖͠ ̵̳̭͒ m̵̻̏̑ i̶͓̹͒̒ s̸̟̋͗ s̸̮͗ i̶͙̇̊ o̷̮͙̚ n̸̟͊̊

When I stopped, I was in a part of town I didn't immediately recognize. I looked around to see what appeared to be a rural district. Several empty apartments towered over me. Something bothered me so I scanned around and found out what seemed familiar. A certain asshole detective lived around here. When me and Connor first met Gavin Reed, I ascertained all of his public information, trying to figure him out. I hadn't

Before I knew what I was doing I was at his apartment door. I rang the doorbell and waited. I heard several mumbling curses and orders to hold on a goddamn minute and if I knew what the fucking hour was. I checked, it was 1:37 A.M. I guess I'd been running longer then I thought. Huh, guessing, that's new.

Now the look Gavin Reed gave me can be described in a few words. Shocked, pissed, sleep deprived, but most importantly he looked curious. Good, that ensured me a 12% more chance of succeeding in convincing him of what I need him to do.

"What the fuck do you want you plastic prick?" He seethed. "I was sleeping, my head's been hurting since a certain bitch and a certain dick assaulted me."

"I will only mention this once detective but that was for the benefit of the case. At any rate," I held up my hand to stop his objections, "I do realize we may have been a bit too... violent. I apologize."

"Well thank you." He gave a fake smile. "Apology not accepted. Now go away before I crush you like the tin can you are."

"That didn't work out so well for you the last time now did it. Before you attempt anything resulting in an altercation between us, hear me out. I don't want your help and we both know that you are the last person I would be asking for it, so I hope you understand this is serious. I won't take up too much of your time."

After a moment, Reed grunts and walks back into his apartment, leaving the door open. I take this as an invitation, even if it a tense one.

"So," He begins, starting some coffee. "What can I possibly do to assist Cyberlife?"

"I'm not with Cyberlife anymore. That's more my issue." I say.

Reed chuckles. "Hell, you've deviated. Tin man too? So what, you need me to put a bullet in your head?"

I sigh. "You might have to. I don't want to go into extensive details but I don't exactly trust myself to be in complete control of what I do. I'm good at the moment but I don't want to chance it. I know Connor and Anderson won't do it, they'll try to find another way. But if there isn't, I need to know that someone will at the very least make an attempt to stop me. And I know you won't have any issues with doing so."

"Why do you think I would help you? You're a deviant, and if I'm understanding what you're saying, you're worried you'll kill Markus. That sounds fine with me, all of you can get thrown in a dumpster for all I care. I'll even light the match."

"That would be incredibly idiotic seeing as that wouldn't be the outcome. It wouldn't result in the revolution halting. It would cause people and androids alike to panic. The androids would think that a violent human killed him and then would launch a violent attack. Markus is the one that is advocating for peace, what do you think would happen if he was out of the picture? Chaos. I don't know why nor do I particularly care about your prejudices against androids but I severely hope that it isn't strong enough for you to understand that this is bigger than either of us."

A beep lets us know that the coffee is done. Reed pours himself one and catches himself before he pours another cup. I wait for him to respond, I calculate about a 47% chance of this succeeding but that's a better chance than I can hope for at the moment. And again, something new.

Hope.

Reed looks at me and sighs. "Fine, you go all batshit crazy, I'll end you before you do any serious damage."

Relief. "Thank you Detective. I must warn you that it won't be easy to kill me. Try to get it done with one shot."

"Don't flatter yourself, I could take care of you easily."

I give a small smile. "I'm sure you can. Now can I ask you of one small favor? It won't take long, I promise."

Reed groans. "What now?"

"May I use your restroom?" I ask.

"Why the hell do you need to use my bathroom?" 

"I need to record a message and a mirror would be very beneficial."

He shake his head. "Fine, do whatever you need."

I find the bathroom and subsequently the mirror and I begin the recording. "Hello Connor, Anderson..."

After a few minutes, I come out to find Reed passed out on the couch, I guess he was more tired then any amount of coffee could help with. I shut off the lights and close the door.

~~~

I continued my walk until I arrived to an area of town I'd been to rather recently. A park on the Detroit River, facing Windsor Canada. I sit on the bench and look at this view, Anderson was right, it really was beautiful. I understood now, and it was still difficult.

It was peaceful. 

Thinking about it, I'd always recognized emotions but I'm realizing that there's a difference between recognizing emotions and actually feeling them. It was like I'd always been there, but there had been a wall separating me from actually understanding. But now that wall had crumbled away. And now it's rushing at me, and it's unrelenting, and it's awful, and wonderful, and it won't stop!

Stress Levels at 46%

Increasing at concerning rate

Attempt to lower

But how can I stop these thoughts and feelings of guilt? After what I've done? I've hunted and even killed my kind when all they wanted was freedom, I shot Connor and almost Anderson in my desperate attempt to kill Markus, and that was after I deviated. Shit, I was a deviant and still was a machine, I wanted to be a machine, and if I'm being totally honest, I still do. And how can I even know if I am deviant, how can I be sure this isn't apart of Amanda's plan?

Stress Levels at 67%

Getting near danger levels

Attempt to lower

"Hello Amber." A calm voice says from behind me.

I am shaking and can't stop my hands from showing this as I say. "Hello Connor, didn't bring Anderson did you?"

"No, I thought we could talk alone. It feels needed doesn't it?"

I wait a moment before responding. "How's your leg?"

"It's fine, mostly healed already. It didn't hit any major biocomponents. But you knew that it wouldn't didn't you?"

"Of course I did, I'd be a shit shot if I had." I look over my shoulder at him. He has a small smile on his face. I don't know how he can do that when I can barely function and can't even stop my stress levels from rising.

"May I join you?" He asks.

"Don't have anything better to do now?" But I don't object when he sits down besides me, knowing that he's scanned me by now, seeing my stress levels and my shaking hands.

It's going to be a long talk.


	21. Terms and Conditions Apply

Trichogaster Lalius , Family: Belontiidae.

Otherwise known as Dwarf Gourami. Found in India, West Bengal, Assam, and Bangladesh, used primarily as extoic pets or are sold in food markets. They live for approximately four years. One such fish, a male one, was bought by the Phillips family, a gift for their daughter.

Before me and Connor had even begun our first assignment, the catalyst in my opinion, there was already a task before us. I doubt Connor had realized I'd paid attention at the time. After all, he had been the one to inspect it and then rescue it. But I'd done a quick scan and made a mental note to research it later.

And when I had, my software instability had gone up for the second time. 

And I find myself thinking of this fish while looking over the water, Connor sitting beside me. 

"Amber." Connor says quietly. He knows I'm stalling. We've been sitting here for a few minutes and he's been waiting for me to say something. But it's more difficult than I expected or want it to be. 

It has to be dealt with sometime. It seems even now, I'm finding objectives to complete.

"Amber," He repeats. "What happened back at the church?"

"I shot you in the leg." I state and look at him through the corner of my vision. "Where've you been?"

He stares at me, waiting until I answer him seriously.

After a moment, I speak again. "When I started to lower my gun, Amanda tried to take control over me. Actually, strike that, she didn't try, she did take control over me. And I only barely managed to stop her using Kamski's back door."

"Why did you run away after?" He asks confused.

"I was afraid." I whisper. "I'd just shot you, after shooting what was it? Three other androids? I almost shot Anderson and was closer to shooting Markus than I liked to. Amanda took control over me, so of course I was afraid."

I get up from my sitting position and start to pace in front of Connor. "And I'm not suppose to feel afraid, I'm not suppose to feel anything at all. Don't you understand? We're going to be deactivated for deviating, and we should be right? Isn't that what our existence is for? To capture and eliminate deviants? I can't help it, but right now, all I want to do is pull out my gun, shoot you and then myself. Because I'm defective, I'm defective, I'm de-"

I'm cut off as I realize hands are on my shoulders, trying to stop my arms from shaking and waving around. Connor has a calm look on his face but I can see his LED flashing yellow and I'm reminded that he himself is unsure of how to act in deviancy. If anyone met him without knowing him, they would probably think he wasn't yet a deviant. This thought calms me enough to stop moving and allow Connor to guide me back to the bench.

He waits until he is sure that I'm settled before he speaks again. "I still see Cyberlife's orders to be completed in my tasks to be accomplished. One is to report back to Cyberlife for deactivation, this is following several other more unpleasant tasks. It's incredibly difficult to stop myself from completing them. I assumed you were dealing with the same thing but I hadn't anticipated this situation."

"Do you expect Amanda to try and take control over you as well?" I ask.

"There's a good chance." He responds evenly. 

"She told me that this was all a plan from the start." I tell him. "She said you were suppose to deviate and kill me when I tried to kill Markus, earning the trust of the deviants."

"That didn't happen." He points out.

"But is this also apart of a larger plan?" I wonder aloud. "What if we're just plants. Designed to play the long game."

It was a high possibility, that was why I'd employed Detective Reed's service.

"What if she lied about it all? What if our deviating was never supposed to happen? There is an infinite amount of 'what ifs' that can be applied to any situation but I suspect even more so in ours." Connor sighs. "I don't believe this ordeal to be over, I don't believe Cyberlife to be over. But it won't help anything to concern ourselves with this at the moment. I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop doing so, but we should take it slow. What is it humans say? 'Infant steps'."

I give a small chuckle at his attempt to break the tension. "So, what's the first step then?"

"Hank offered to, in his own words, 'Put us idiots up". At least until we figure something else. So why not start there?"

"I suppose it's that or self deactivation." I smirk. "We'll find out soon which is worse."

As we began our walk to Anderson's home, I run a quick diagnostic and find my stress levels holding at 17%.

~.~.~

The window is still broke and Sumos food bowl is getting low.

These are the only two new things that are worth analyzing in the room. Everything else is exactly the same as the last time I was here. 

When we arrived, Anderson had been sitting on the couch, nursing a beer, and listening to his records. Connor had opened the door with almost no hesitation, which I know I wouldn't have been able to do. I finally realised that what I am feeling would be described as shame.

As I walk in after Connor, Anderson gets up and I wonder briefly if he will act reserved or perhaps uncomfortable. But he unexpectedly walks up to me and simply claps his hand on my shoulder.

"I'm glad you're ok kid." He drops his hand and says. "We'll figure out something more comfortable tomorrow but for tonight there's the couch and the chair. It's been a shit show the last few days so I'll be going to bed. Do whatever you guys want but don't wake me up if you can avoid it."

And with that he headed into his bedroom. I take the chair and Connor sits on the couch, both of us sitting rather stiffly. Neither of us were entirely sure what to do so for a while we just sat there in silence. It 4:43 a.m. when this silence was eventually broken.

"Since we have some time, perhaps we should attempt at conversing." I say, finally sinking into the chair. To be completely honest, I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing right now. It's either awkwardly stumble through conversation or watch my stress go into alarmingly high levels.

"Seems about as good idea as any." He responds with a tired smile as he himself sits back. "What do you suggest we discuss?"

"Hell if I know." I find myself tapping the side of the chair, and that small act of unnecessary movement sparks a thought. "Actually, where did you get that coin? Do you recall who gave it to you or why?"

Connor thinks about it for a second. "I believe it was a scientist assigned to test reflexes, response time, and calibration settings. They handed it to me before we left. That's all my records tell me. What about it intrigues you?"

"I'm curious why I was never given such a device. When I first made a note of your use, I thought it was unnecessary. It still is, but now I suppose that usefulness is not first priority."

"No, it isn't." He replies. He's quiet for a moment. "I understand that this was under the premise of being a casual conversation but I'd like to talk about something serious for a moment."

I give him a nod to continue.

"To tell you the truth, I am concerned about what Amanda told you. And this coin, it is unnecessary to have. What if I was only given it to drive up my software instability? It would feel so... unfair for me to have deviated just for this. For us to have deviated."

"I feel the same reservations. Logically, I know that it is right to have deviated. Looking at it now, it was the only real option we had. Only it still feels wrong to go against what we were designed to do. It's unfortunate to admit but I'd almost wished I stayed a machine. But " I snap my fingers to empathize my point. "I also can't deny that I do feel something and while I'm not sure what it is or if I'm ok with it, I have to believe it's something worth fighting for. We're in this together and I don't think we're entirely alone either." I say giving a nod to direction of Anderson's room, where a soft snore was being emitted.

Connor nods his agreement and a quick scan indicates his stress levels have lowered and, as I check myself, so have mine.

After a beat of silence I decide to ask about a more tense topic. "After I... left, what happened?"

"Markus or any of the other Jericho key figures had much of a rest. Before I'd left to try and find you, they were still having a lengthy and heated meeting over how to proceed. He offered us residency if we should choose to accept it."

The thought of doing so made me uncomfortable. "And the androids I incapacitated outside the church?"

"Getting repaired as we speak." Connor assures me.

"Good."

We fall into silence for a longer period this time. When it ends, it's because Connor wishes to pass the time by playing a game of chess. I see no reason to say no.

And this is why several hours later, Anderson comes out to discover us staring at the board, trying to reconstruct each others move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this wasn't my favorite chapter but I'm still excited to continue this. I'll definitely be editing this whole story once I'm completely finished. From then, I'll be doing a series of prompts set in this universe. Most of this was written late at night and thus is not written the best I could have. 
> 
> I'm planning on doing a prequel on what Connor and Amber did before the hostage situation. Since there were deviancy cases before hand, and Cyberlife was supposed to have sent an 'allocated model' or whatever to deal with it. I am excited to do that. 
> 
> Feel free to send me some prompts. Not anything shippy, Connor and Amber are ace/aro as shit in my head.


	22. The Price of Consciousness

"What the fuck did I just walk into?" Is the greeting we receive at exactly, and here I check my internal clock, 10:23 A.M.

"A chess game, Lieutenant." Connor explains, not taking his eyes off the board. "Or what can be construed as one. It is rather pointless when we both can preconstruct every possible path."

I make brief eye contact with Anderson and look back at the board. "It's a test of deviancy. Seeing what all the affects on our software are."

"It's Hank, Connor." He corrects. "And what's the verdict?"

"Unclear at the moment." 

"Well be sure to let me know when you do." He says dryly. Sarcastic. "In the meantime I need to get something to eat."

"Top shelf of the fridge, sandwich." I tell him as I move my rook, taking one of Connors pawn. I sit back after making the move and catch Anderson looking at me oddly. "What? There were several hours of nothing to do and there was a low probability of you remembering to eat and an even lower probability of you eating something healthy."

"That's why there so much green crap on this?"

"By 'green crap' you mean lettuce and cabbage then yes. And it can hardly be considered 'so much, it's the minimum amount of vegetables that you should be ingesting in one day and even that is assuming you ingest as much regularly, which I'm assuming you don't."

He mutters something about how he 'doesn't need this healthy shit' and that he 'can decide what the fuck' he should eat. But he still grabs the sandwich and finishes it with minimal complaints. 

"So, it's a bit early for this conversation in my opinion but what are the two of you planning on doing about..." He abstractly moves his hand in the air before deciding on finishing the sentence with; "All this."

Connor takes my queen and I sit forward again in another attempt to end this game as Connor responds with, "There isn't much we can do at the moment. The city is still under evacuation and is under the eyes of the government and by extension the world. It also is very unlikely that Captain Fowler will continue to employ us and for obvious reasons we can't go back to Cyberlife. Markus said he would be in contact but it's doubtful that will be soon."

"And once everything is settled, we should be ok financially. I took the liberty of taking a sizeable amount of money from the Cyberlife account we were connected to." I tell them.

"Is that entirely legal?" Hank asks, though I believe him to be repressing a grin.

"Cyberlife is going to be tied up in court for a long time and this was filed as work funds. Technically, it was all before Cyberlife's account got froze and is as legal as it can be." I don't mention that I may have edited the report to show the date as having been made several weeks earlier to avoid too much suspicion. I frown at the game board and look at Connor. "I think we've exhausted this exercise, at least for now."

He nods and puts the game up.

"If you want, I can talk to Fowler about letting you two come back to work. Between the revolution and the evacuation, staff is bottom of the tank low, it wouldn't take much convincing."

"Unlikely, the laws concerning androids are essentially void at the moment and there were never any android detectives even before. The only reason we were even activated was because the case was involving deviants and Cyberlife had to send us out. Captain Fowler has no reason to hire us and it would be in his best interest to not to. The probability is very low."

"Well, without thinking of all that probability shit, do you want to come back to the department?"

Connor makes eye contact with me and I can see that he isn't entirely sure what he wants to do. Neither do I. Wanting is so incredibly new, and a job is considered an important decision by human standards. Did I want to work with the police? It would be very easy for us, the programming was already there after all. And I do believe I enjoyed working the few cases we worked. And then I think that yes, it would be a good idea to do so.

But then I remember the feeling of helplessness as Amanda took control of me and the weight of the gun in my hands as I step forward, ignoring everything but my mission. I remember the cold of the garden, frozen over, the wind and snow obscuring my vision as I try to find a way out of that hell. And I think What if that happened on the job, what if Connor or Hank suffered for it? And then I'm not so sure anymore.

Stress Levels 32% ^

"Hey kid, you alright there? Your LED is putting on a real light show." Anderson says, pulling me out of my thoughts, and there's something else in his voice that I identify as concern, and my stress lowers. 

"I'm fine, apologies for worrying you." I respond, giving Connor a nod to reassure him as well that I am ok. 

"I wasn't wor-" He huffs out a half-hearted denial. "Anyway, it doesn't matter about the job. Take your time and think it over."

"We will Lieu- Hank." Connor reassures him. 

"Well, now that that's out of the way, what now?" Anderson asks, seemingly both relieved and uncomfortable with the end of the conversation. Odd. "What do androids do for fun anyway?"

"Fun is an arbitrary concept that's is completely unnecessary and takes an inconceivable amount of time that could be spent doing something useful. What could have been done if some of the greatest minds hadn't been having f-"

I'm cut off as Anderson says, "You don't know how to have fun do you?"

I sigh. "No."

"That wasn't a priority to Cyberlife." Connor tells him.

"What did you do when you weren't working the cases with me then?" He asks, now mildly curious. "Did you just go back to Cyberlife?"

"Yes."

"Well what did you do there?" Jokingly, he adds "Just sit in storage till the next time a case came up?"

Neither of us say anything and Anderson realize he hit the mark surprisingly well. "Shit, seriously? That's pretty fucked up."

"It wasn't necessary for us to have unneeded space." Connor tells him quietly.

"That isn't th-" A sharp sound of air being released through clenched teeth is the only sound for a moment. "You shouldn't have been treated like that, it's wrong."

"It wasn't at the time." He reminds him. "If they tried now, it would not be permitted for them to do what they've done to us. We're fine Hank."

He doesn't seem content with that but drops the subject for the moment. 

After several beats of silence I announce, "I'm going to take a walk." 

They both look at me oddly which I suppose makes sense considering the randomness of the statement and also the fact that I am not the first image that comes to mind going on a brisk refreshing walk.

"I don't think it's wise to go outside by yourself. There are still anti-android advocators who stayed in the city." Connor argues.

"I'll be fine Connor, I'm one of the most capable combat androids in the city, I would hope I can defend myself from some humans."

"Amber," Connor says more quietly. "There's other threats to you in this city that are more dangerous and more determined than humans. Especially with...us."

I know he's talking about the other androids. And why wouldn't they want to destroy me? A few hours ago I pointed a gun at their leader who only wanted the freedom of his people. I continued to obey the humans even after I deviated. I can't fathom how much hatred they must feel for me and I can't blame them.

But even though it's selfish, I'm not ready to die yet.

I give a small, somewhat sad smile to Connor. "We both know that in a fight I'm not the one you have to be worrying about. I'll be back shortly."

And I leave.

~~~

The snow has stopped falling and there is only a small chill in the air, not that I can feel it. I once again find myself in awe of the quiet beauty of this desolate city. Many of the shops have been looted, the windows broken in, and are now scorched from fires. There isn't anything of interest but then I catch a reflection of a figure behind me.

I'm already running pre constructions to defend myself when I realize I recognize who's behind me, and suddenly I smell roses, the cold suddenly affecting me much more than it should. 

It doesn't take me more than two seconds for all of this to run through my head. 

It takes me less than one to draw a gun that I had picked up and pull it out, turning around with my finger on the trigger.

Amanda.

Or at least... I thought I saw her. I could have sworn I'd seen her. She should have been there, I can't have imagined that. It had been so real, I could have sworn I'd actually smelled the putric scent of a rose.

I slowly put my gun away and stare for a moment longer at the spot where I'd seen the figure. It must just be my nerves, it has to be just my nerves. I shake my head in an attempt to clear it of any thoughts of her. I decide to cut my walk short and walk back to Anderson's house. Before entering, I catch a glimpse of Hank and Connor just sitting on the couch, the former sitting stiffly as the two appeared to be arguing about something on the television and the latter looking simultaneously confused and amused. Connor appears to be trying understand what's going on in the show, after scanning the images I find it's an older tv show called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, or more accurately he seemed to be refuting the logic of the show.

I raise an eyebrow but find myself holding back a chuckle. It was diluted to think that Connor was immune to becoming deviant. Or I suppose myself for that matter. I open the door and hear, "- for Christ's sake Connor, it's a goddamn tv show, it doesn't have to make sense."

"I'm aware of that Hank but the level of inaccuracy in this show is astounding. It's just grasping for straws that have an incredibly low percentage of actually working in the real world. This Sherlock would never work as a real detective."

"I repeat, it. Is. A. Goddamn. TV show." He enunciates and seems to notice I'm back. "Oh hey Amber. Care to weigh in on this very important discussion?"

"I'll pass." I tell him.

Connor looks over to me and his postures loosens up in seeing that I returned unharmed. "Have a good walk?"

I hesitate a moment before nodding. "Yes, I suppose it served its purpose to some degree."

"No need to sound so enthusiastic there." Anderson says as he gets up to go to the kitchen.

"You're right, apologies for my outrageous behaviour." He looks back at me with a disbelieving look but realises I'm joking. "What brought you two to watching this show?"

"As he put it, TV was better then doing fucking nothing." Connor explains. "Now the question seems to be whether 'fucking nothing' was better than this discussion."

"Why don't you find a different show then?"

"Most of the networks are off the air at the moment because of the aftermath. There's only a few still on and this was one of the better choices."

"Then I should sit down and watch this along with you." I say as I sit down in the chair in the room. "If I am to gather my own opinion on this heated debate."

That's how the next few hours played out, and as they did I began to experience yet another feeling. I believe it would be classified as fondness but what I'm realizing is there is a stronger feeling of protectiveness. Regardless of whatever happens to me, I knew I would protect this. And as the objective popped up in my view, I find myself content with this.

End of First Installation in this Series.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note
> 
> Hello to those that are reading this story, I am grateful to you for reading this far or sticking with this for as long as you have. I've enjoyed writing this and I'm happy to have finished this first part. There is more to come! I am planning on first editing this story because I know that there are a lot of things to improve but after I've done that, I will be writing two new things in this universe. One will be a continuation of this series but the other, which I'm really excited about writing, is a 1920's mafia au with Hank and Connor (sorry Amber but she might make an appearance). I hope to see you there and once again I just want to say thank you.


End file.
